The Open Gate
by Goldenlici
Summary: On the morning of their 13th birthday, the twins are dragged into a battle they know nothing about. Separated by mysterious red digimon, the twins must reunite and find the creature persuing them. In this war, the line between friend and foe will vanish.
1. Happy Birthday?

"So you are the one?" she said slowly. "What were they thinking?" Her pale, piano fingers caressed the edge of the sphere and the image of the boy disappeared. "What shall I do with you?" she murmured as she tapped the top of her orb, bringing forth an image of a colossal ship. Leaning forward, she eyed the ship with an impassive glare and blew gently. A cerulean mist flowed from between her yellow lips and the moisture from the mist seeped into the globe causing rain to engulf the liner.

"Survive that."

"What a beautiful day! Kouji! Kouji wake up!"

"mf gre vurint bry nofer…."

"What?"

A long sigh came from the head hiding under the pillow of the bottom bunk. "If you weren't my brother," he repeated groggily. "What time is it?" Kouji asked looking for the clock he usually had on his nightstand.

"You really are not a morning person, are you?" Kouichi chuckled as he walked across the small cabin.

Kouji glanced at his brother and blinked. Why did his room look so plain? Wait. Morning haze clearing. Mind sharpening. "Cruise," Kouji's voice held such genuine surprise that Kouichi started laughing, which soon escalated into uncontrolled hysteria. Kouji attempted to maintain the stern, grumpy look he had spent years perfecting, but failed. He could not keep his face mad when the face that looked just like his was so happy.

"I…I…ca…" Kouich cleared his throat to stifle his laughter before continuing, "I can not believe you forgot something as huge as going on a cruise."

"It's like…" Kouji started to say before looking around for a clock. When he did not see one, he asked what time it was.

"Nearly 4 o'clock in the morning," Kouichi answered as he pointed to a small circle on the opposite wall from the bunk bed.

Kouji's left eyebrow started to twitch and Kouichi smirked. "Goodnight," the younger boy said as he dove back under his pillow.

"Come on," Kouichi said quietly as he sat down on the bed next to his brother, "it's not night anymore."

"mf de vum bot mup…"

"Don't start that again," Kouichi sighed as he shoved Kouji's arm playfully.

"If the sun's not up, I'm not up," Kouji mumbled as his head appeared from under the pillow once more. Kouichi stood up with his back to the sleepy boy.

"Please," Kouichi whispered, his eyes softening.

"Fine," Kouji replied as he threw his legs over the edge of the bed. He yawned and stretched his arms above him. Why had Kouichi not turned around yet? "Kouichi," he called softly as he became completely vertical next to his brother.

The boy in question turned to face Kouji, with no hint of his previously somber mood. Kouichi gently pushed his brother towards the suitcases piled up in the corner of the room. "Get dressed," he commanded in mock seriousness.

"Yes, sir," Kouji chuckled as he bent down and unzipped one of the suitcases. As he started pulling out different pieces of clothing, Kouichi knelt down and unzipped his own suitcase. Kouji gazed at him with a puzzled expression. Kouichi was already dressed. His confusion increased as Kouich pulled out two black packages. As soon as he opened his mouth to question the boy next to him, Kouichi stood up and strode to the cabin door.

"I will meet you in this floor's outside lounge," Kouichi said as he opened the door and stepped out.

"Go left and head to the end of the corridor. Take a left when you reach the stairs and then a right," Kouichi replied to the unspoken query he felt coming off his brother. Then, he was gone.

Kouji knew something was amiss, but continued getting ready quickly. When he was finally dressed, which only took maybe five minutes, he opened the door and walked out into the hallway.

"Go left…"

He turned towards the left and started moving.

"…and head to the end of the corridor."

He reached the wall at the end of the path and noticed a staircase on his left.

"Take a left when you reach the stairs…"

He walked swiftly up the stairs.

"…and then a right."

He smiled as he saw his double leaning over the railing of the small balcony.

"Kouichi," he called as he approached the distracted figure.

"Good Morning, Kouji," the figure replied.

"It's not morning yet, bro," Kouji said with a grin. "Why are we up so early anyway?"

"Over here," Kouichi said and pointed to a nearby table with the two black boxes from earlier on it. The boys walked over and sat next to each other. Kouji eyed the packages curiously and then his brother. Kouichi suddenly appeared very nervous, which startled Kouji. Kouichi had not been nervous around him since he found him in the hospital the day they returned from the digital world.

"Kouichi, what's…"

"Here," Kouichi interrupted and shoved one of the boxes into Kouji's face. "I…I wanted to be the first person to give you a present on the first birthday we have spent together since we were babies," he muttered.

"Kouichi…" Kouji said in place of a response. He gingerly handled the black box. Kouichi grabbed the other box and lifted the lid, while gesturing for Kouji to do the same. Kouji remained awestruck as he lifted a black cord out of the box. Dangling from the middle of the cord was a silver sphere with his name carved into the metal. He glanced next to him and found an identical treasure in his brother's hand, though the name was different. Up, down, up, down. Kouji could do no more than open and close his mouth in his stupor.

"I know jewelry is not really appropriate for guys and I don't know if you would like silver and you don't have to wear it and … and … I'm sorry. It was a stupid idea," Kouichi finished lamely as Kouji remained statue still.

"No!" Kouji exclaimed, shoving the chair back and jumping to his feet. "I … I mean, they are perfect," he corrected when he noticed his brother's flinch at his shout. "Thank you, very much."

Silence.

Confusion.

Determination.

"Here," Kouji commanded. He gently took his brother's arm and guided him to his feet. "You take mine," he said as he put the charm in his hands around his brother's neck, "and I'll take yours," he finished as he fingered the metal in Kouichi's hand. Numbly, Kouichi released the cord and Kouji repeated the process on his own neck.

"Now we will always have a piece of each other," Kouji explained with a rising blush.

Finally, Kouichi smiled. "I thought I was supposed to be the emotional twin," the statement earned him a gentle punch to the shoulder.

"Whatever," Kouji grumbled, but still his smile shone through.

"Happy Birthday"

"Happy Birthday"

A drop of water made the two boys look up into the sky. Kouichi gasped.

"What!" Kouji responded immediately, alarmed at his brother's sudden terror.

"I… there … lips … yellow …" Kouichi rambled unintelligibly.

A streak of light consumed the sky then a blanket of rain engulfed the deck.


	2. Separation Operation

"Kouichi. Kouichi! KOUICHI! Why won't you answer me? Kouichi! What is going on? KOUICHI!" Kouji's voice escalated as he shook the unresponsive boy. Everything had seemed perfect just moments before, but now, with a few drops of water, his world shattered. What scared him most was that he did not even understand why. What had Kouichi seen in the sky that had transformed him from a lively young man to a terrified boy currently screaming with his hands tightly around his chest?

Another flash illuminated the sky, then another, then another. Each new flash drained more color from Kouichi's face. Giving up on a verbal answer, Kouji looked up into the sky in search of any small clue.

He found one. No, he found many: digimon. The flashes were not lightning, but fractal codes materializing in the sky. Each new code left a digimon in its wake. Suddenly, the rain increased and blurred the scene.

BOOM!

An explosion on the left side of the ship shocked the twins from their separate stupors.

"What," Kouichi's voice cracked in fear, "do we do, Kouji?"

"I … I …," Kouji frantically searched for some kind of decision.

"RUN!" Kouichi shouted as he pushed Kouji out of the way of another explosion. The digimon were attacking. Kouichi dragged Kouji into the hallway and down the stairs. The explosions sounded all around them and the passengers started appearing from everywhere.

The twins rushed down the stairs and into the hallway that led to their cabin. Frantic passengers, awoken by the sudden commotion, were crowding the corridor. Among them were the boys parents, who were searching desperately for the twins.

Kouji stopped at the end of the corridor and pulled Kouichi to a stop next to him. "What should we do?" Kouichi whispered. "We can't do anything without our d-tectors and what do we tell everybody? Creatures from another world have materialized and are bombarding the ship with fireballs that they can create out of thin air."

"I don't know," Kouichi answered frantically.

"KOUJI! KOUICHI!"

"That's dad," Kouji said. The twins glanced at each other in a quiet question and answer session.

Do we go to him?

What do we tell him?

He is worried.

I know.

We have to go.

Right.

The silent conversation ended within the minute. They jumped into the sea of people and started pushing towards the voice of their father.

"Dad!"

"Dad!" the boys called out for their father.

"Boys!"

"Dad!"

Though there were voices all around them, they still managed to find each. "Are you boys okay?" their father asked as he grabbed their shoulders and pulled them closer. Their mom and stepmother were right behind him the same question radiating from their eyes. The boys nodded in response, not knowing how verbalize that they were physically unharmed, but terrified.

Suddenly a digimon appeared at the bottom of the stairs and all the passengers started shrieking. It was a werewolf creature with scarlet fur and blood eyes. It growled and started walking forward. The passengers surged backwards down the corridor in a panic, dragging with them the small family with the only two people who even slightly understood.

"DO NOT PANIC!" resounded from the speakers on the ship. "DO NOT PANIC1 DO NOT PANIC! DO NOT PANIC!" the voice went unheeded by the passengers who ran without knowing where to go. Eventually, the crowd passed by a small stairway, which the twins scrambled up in order to free themselves from the mob. Their father followed, but their mothers were swept away by the mass of bodies.

The boys ran up the stairs and into the open air of the main deck, their father right behind them. They were confronted by even more digimon, who, though slightly blinded by the heavy rain, spotted the new figures. Kouji, finally gaining some control of his storming emotions, pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and started pressing buttons.

"Ophanimon! Seraphimon! Cherubimon!" Kouji called as he started bashing the buttons on his phone. "Spirit! Spirit! LOBOMON!!!"

The symbol of light appeared on Kouji's cell phone, but quickly faded. However, that seemed to draw the attention of the digimon on the deck.

"Data!"

"Data!"  
"DATA! DATA! DATA!" the digimon started chanting with deep, rumbling voices as they advanced on the three humans. A ruby sword came down next to Kouji causing him to drop his cell phone down the stairs. Kouji turned to retrieve his cell phone, but was stopped by the same sword. Kouichi tugged on Kouji's arm and they scurried down the deck past empty relaxing chairs.

Their father remained frozen by the nightmarish scene that was unfolding before his eyes with his sons as the main characters. Fortunately, the digimon seemed to be too focused on the digital presence they sensed in the twins to notice the stunned man, who could only watch as hordes of monsters persued his sons.

Kouji and Kouichi scrambled randomly down hallways: left, right, right, left, straight, right, straight. Their running finally led them to the outside railing of the ship, where digimon were flying around the ship. More blood eyes focused on the two identical, terror stricken faces.

"O..O..Ophanimon!" the boys called, seeking the aid of their angelic digital guide.

A speaker near the boys emitted a loud static drawing attention to the stairway behind it. Kouji rushed down the stairs, Kouichi right behind him.

At the bottom of the stairs, another digimon confronted them. Red. The digimon was covered in red. It had the same blood eyes as the werewolf, wild crimson hair, smooth scarlet skin, burgundy bat wings, and donned a cloak. The digimon grabbed the two boys by the front of their shirts and lifted them into the air, one in each hand. It scrutinized them, Kouichi first. Apparently not finding whatever he was looking for, the digimon turned to Kouji. After a moment, his eyes widened and he seemed to focus on the boy.

It threw Kouichi over the side of the ship.

Both boys screamed: Kouichi out of fear, Kouji out of concern. The digimon was unemotional. It formed an oval with its mouth and emitted a low-pitched hum. The blasts that had been resounding for over an hour suddenly ceased. The digimon flew over the side of the ship and soared high into the sky, Kouji still in its grasp. The digimon was soon accompanied by all the other digimon and the group dematerialized into bits of fractal code. When the light from the fractal code faded, the rain stopped and everything was still.


	3. Hazy Days

Cold. The water from the ocean was freezing and seeped into Kouichi's soul as he sank further into its lair. His struggle with the water had ended in moments. The adrenalin from the digimon attack had already drained all energy from him.

Kouji. His final thought dissipated into the darkness that was encroaching on his mind.

"Kouichi!" Kouji gasped as he woke in a panic.

"He has awoken…"

"Send word to Alphamon…"

"Check his restraints…"

Restraints. Kouji tried to lift his arm. Yes, restraints. He could feel rough material encircling his wrists underneath his jacket. The voices around him continued talking in fragmented sentences above his head. His mind had not yet fully cleared from the blackout he had experienced during the transition between worlds.

"Who .. are … you?" Kouji's voice was weaker than he had ever heard it before.

"So, you are coherent," an eerie voice sounded on his left. "Well, we can't have that at a time like this," the voice said with a chuckle. "Sedate him!"

As soon as the sound issued from his mouth, a strange crimson mist dispersed over Kouji's face and he was thrown into blackness again.

"Ko"

"Kou"

"Kouji"

"KOUJI!" the voice finally solidified in Kouji's mind, waking him. Through a haze, Kouji could see a white figure dancing around the room. Suddenly, the white figure appeared over him and started shaking him. A low groan emitted from the boy as the white digimon released his wrists and lifted him carefully.

"We have to get out of here," the digimon called to someone else. "Don't worry Kouji, I'll protect you from now on," the digimon whispered to him.

"Lo…" Kouji attempted to label his rescuer, but was silenced by him.

"Not now," he admonished. "I apologize, but we need you completely cooperative," Kouji heard his spirit whisper before his mind collapsed again.

The first thing Kouji concluded when he finally awoke again was that he despised being knocked out, as he recognized the now familiar sensation of escalating consciousness. Acquainted to the routine, he remained motionless as he waited for his understanding to return. When his brain sufficiently cleared, Kouji pieced together his environment: glowing white roof above, soft bed beneath, and colorful figures around him.

"Lobomon," the boy called, remembering his digimon's presence from before.

"Kouji, my boy, how wonderful to see you up and about," said an annoyingly high-pitched motherly voice from beside him.

"Bokomon?"

"Oh dear, of course you would be confused, poor boy."

"Bokomon!" Kouji griped, returning to the aloof attitude he possessed when he first entered the digital world. "What is going on?" he asked, as he sat up out of bed and glared in an attempt to curb Bokomon's motherly nature. "Lobomon?" he inquired again, hoping for a digimon who would treat him like an ally and not a child.

"Over here," a voice replied from behind him. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I just passed out three times in the past…," Kouji paused as he searched for an appropriate time period. "How long have I been in the digital world?" he asked once he could not fit a specific timeline to his recent experience.

"About a week," Lobomon supplied slowly, not knowing how much of that time Kouji was actually aware. Kouji's silence stunned him. He expected his human counterpart to yell or even sulk, but not this uncomfortable lull. "Kouji?" No answer. "Kouji?" Not even a blink of acknowledgment graced the boy's face. "Kouji, I know you were unconscious for a long period of time and you probably do not …"

"Kouichi?" Kouji interjected, suddenly responsive and strong. "Where is Kouichi?" It was Lobomon's turn to remain silent. "Lobomon? Where is my brother?" Kouji asked again with more desperation.

"I … We … well," Lobomon started nervously.

"What? What happened to him? How bad is it ? Who was it?" Kouji interrogated, while standing and quickly approaching his digimon.

"We have no information on the location or status of the warrior of darkness," interjected a new voice. From the opening behind Lobomon, a small digimon with a staff and cloak entered the room: Sorcerormon. Kouji, stunned by the arrival of the old acquaintance, absorbed the room more completely to avoid any more surprises.

The room around him sported unnaturally pale walls with blue crystals scattered about, providing a gently blue atmosphere. A window was carved opposite the entrance to the room and provided a clear view of tree branches. Aside from the bed he had just been in, Kouji found the room devoid of furniture.

"Are we in Seraphimon's palace?" Kouji guessed.

"Yes," Sorcerormon answered simply as he fully entered the room. "You were brought here by Lobomon yesterday. We are still investigating the recent disturbances."

"Would someone please fill me in on what I missed while I was being dragged all around the digital world like a doll?" Kouji quipped, growling.

"Lord Seraphimon has instructed me to lead you to the main hall once you awoke," Sorcerormon replied with a nonchalant air that deepened Kouji's scowl. Without waiting for a reply, Sorcerormon turned abruptly and disappeared.

"Yes, yes, my boy, we must go see Seraphimon immediately," Bokomon spoke up suddenly from the corner of the room, then he, too, vacated the room. Lobomon just shrugged and followed him out of the room. Kouji remained still for a moment, trying to calm himself.

What a wonderful 13th year this was turning out to be. One week into it and he had lost his brother, been kidnapped by crazy digimon, rescued by his suddenly physical spirit, and was now being harassed by snobby digimon.

Slowly, he trudged over to the small bed in the room and sat down.

"Kouichi," he whispered, ducking his head. Then, he spotted the silver treasure around his neck and lifted his hand to grab it. Kouichi was not dead. He knew it. All he had to do was figure out what was going on and find him. He stood with determination and strode out of the room.

"Quickly, quickly," Bokomon urged as he led Kouji to the others.

When Kouji entered the hall, the three angels, Bokomon, Naemon, Sorcerormon, and at first glance all of the ten legendary warriors were present. Upon closer examination, Kouji noticed that Lowemon was not present in the room. Lobomon, who had come to stand beside his partner, noticed Kouji's wandering eyes. "Lowemon disappeared about a week ago," he told Kouji, "which is about the time you appeared in this world, if our sources are correct."

Kouji nodded to his spirit, but made no other attempt to converse with him. "What is going on?" Kouji inquired of the new digimon.

"We are not certain at this point in time," Ophanimon answered.

"What we do know is that approximately one week ago there was a surge in light from the red moon and minutes later we were being called by your voice," Seraphimon added. "We had been cut off from your world since you left and were very surprised to hear you calling us."

"Perhaps you can explain why you were calling for us?" Cherubimon interjected, voice booming throughout the room.

Kouji glared at the oversized, fluffy pink bunny. It was easier to trust the once evil digimon, who had corrupted his brother, when he was just a rookie, Lopmon.

"Come now sugah, we are completely squeaky clean," Ranamon chimed as she waltzed over to the sullen human.

Kouji glared a moment longer before sighing and answering, "It happened very quickly. Kouichi and I were on a cruise ship with our parents for our birthday. Kouichi woke me up to give me my present." Here he stopped and touched the chain around his neck once more. "Then, a storm came and Kouichi started screaming. I did not know what was happening until I looked up into the sky. There were digimon appearing in the sky and they started attacking the ship. There was a panic," Kouji stopped talking and took a deep breath. "The digimon came after us, but they did not seem to be going after us in particular until my phone connected with the digital world. The symbol of light appeared on the screen and suddenly the digimon started chasing us shouting, 'Data, data.' A strange digimon grabbed me and Kouichi. He wanted someone specific. After scrutinizing us, he threw Kouichi of the side of the ship and took me to the digital world, then I passed out. I … don't know what happened to Kouichi."

Silence.

Nothing.

"Are you going to sit there all day or help me?!" Kouji yelled, frustrated.

"I am sorry," Seraphimon said quietly.

"What?" Kouji snapped. "What does tha …"

"Lord Seraphimon, what should we do?" Lobomon asked, interrupting Kouji's outburst. "Certainly we can do something."

"Of course we will do all we can," Ophanimon said with the serene voice of one of the celestial rulers of the digital world.

"Perhaps we should summon the other human warriors," Aldamon offered.

"Can we do that?" Naemon asked scratching his head.

"Of course they can, you nitwit. They are the three celestial rulers of the digital world," Bokomon said as he snapped Naemon's pants.

"It will be difficult, however," Ophanimon started, "for when you defeated Lucemon, the terminal connecting your world to the digital world was destroyed."

"How did those digimon get to the human world anyway?" Kouji asked.

"Actually, we are not sure," Cherubimon said. "We have been guarding the dark area of the digital world, and there has been no activity there. However, there may be several portals to the digital world that we are unaware of."

"How is that possible? You are the rulers of the digital world," Kouji said.

"We know of two pathways to the human world, the trailmon tracks and the dark area, but Kouichi did not enter the digital world by either paths," Ophanimon explained.

"But I thought Cherubimon brought Kouichi here," Kouji interjected.

"No," Cherubimon responded, "I merely found the boy wandering around the continent of darkness."

"Still," Ophanimon intruded, "I will do what I can to bring the others here."

"So what do we do now?" Kouji questioned. "Let me see if I understand what you are saying. You don't know who the enemy is, what they want, or anything about why I was dragged here. So, again, what do we do?"

"For now, we will wait for Ophanimon to call the other human warriors," Seraphimon said. "Rest. It has been a long week for you from what I have heard."

"Rest. I have been doing nothing but sleeping since I got to the digital world," Kouji growled. "I am going to go look for the monster that threw my BROTHER INTO THE OCEAN!"

Kouji turned to storm out of the room, but was stopped by Lobomon. "Where will you go and what will you do if you are attacked again?" he demanded with the same attitude as the scowling human. "Now that myself and the other legendary warriors have been given physical bodies of our own, you have no way to defend yourself in the digital world."

"I can take care of myself"

"No you can't. Not in the digital world."

"I'll find a way."

"There is no way."

"I can't just wait here. I … When did you get your own body?"

"I wondered how long it would take you to ask that."

"So?"

"It's a fairly short story."

"Then tell it."

"Well…"


	4. Tales of Tangibility

The history of the digital world teams with controversial disputes, which often led to vicious battles. These battles are linked by one characteristic: intolerance. A battle starts with a difference of opinions or appearances. Though many have tried to resolve the issues that arise among the countless types of digimon, few were successful because they argued for peace with a group of digimon exactly like themselves.

The call to you and your peers was not the first incidence of human involvement in the digital world. Myths and Legends about heroic humans have existed in the digital world since its creation millennia ago. The longest periods of peace emerged just after human interaction, but even they died. The digimon needed heroes within their ranks who were willing to campaign with other classes of digimon. However, instead of joining together, the digimon seemed to diversify even more. The sides evolved from the artificial, earth, metal, light, dark, and fire, and the natural, wood, water, lightening, wind, and ice, to the physical artificial, earth and metal; the intangible artificial, light, dark, and fire; the physical natural, wood, water, and ice; and, finally, the intangible natural, lightening and wind. From these four groups, each of the ten elements fragmented into individual sides of a great civil war.

Creating a coalition of digimon from each element took several decades of scanning. The war created powerful soldiers with great military minds, but these soldiers knew little to nothing of peace. The war had lasted so long that the young digimon remembered nothing but fighting. Yet, all digimon do not act within the range of public opinion. Two digimon, one from the light element and one from the dark element, fell in love and from them came a pair of twins: the ancient spirits of light and dark.

These twins were the basis of the original ten legendary warriors. Because of the conflict between the two elements, the twins were raised on the rural borders of the light kingdom where there were few digimon to judge them. The kingdom next to the light kingdom where the twins lived was the fire kingdom. The borders drawn on paper by the government do not physically exist in the world, so there was much interaction with the few settlers in the rural border area of the fire kingdom, including a young fire digimon called Ancientgreymon.

Throughout the years, an unbreakable bond formed between these three babies. When they reached the champion level, they were each drafted into the militaries of their element and after over a decade of service, evolved into great mega level generals; yet, the bond between them did not wane. With their great success, they were able to influence the leaders of their elements into allowing a temporary cease-fire to encourage negotiations.

Only a handful of digimon from each element dared engage in these negotiations, including the seven other legendary warriors.

"Lobomon, what does this have to do with you getting a physical form? We don't have time for a history lesson. We have to find Kouichi."

Patience is a key to any aspect of life. The lack of patience of the digimon attending the negotiations led to an increase in the death of digimon all over the digital world. However, one warrior from each of the elements had enough courage to rebel against the prejudices of their lands. They formed a unit that became known as the ten legendary warriors.

Yet, they were not the first to establish peace. Lucemon was a digimon from the light kingdom, who gained enough power to control the kingdom. As ruler of the light kingdom, he possessed enough influence and popularity to amass a gargantuan army. This colossal force conquered one kingdom after another and Lucemon earned their loyalty by blaming all the troubles of the war on the dark digimon. Eventually, the nine elements, excluding only the dark kingdom, all fell to Lucemon's prowess and the dark digimon faded into a mere wisp of life.

As time passed, the digimon of each element became aware of Lucemon's malignance. The power had corrupted him. He continued to demand more power, more worship, more servitude. A tyrant was born.

In a brighter perspective, this tyrant allowed all digimon to unite for a common purpose. The great warriors of the previous civil war emerged again, including the legendary ten. These ten led the battle against Lucemon and defeated him. But these ten were fighters, not politicians, so they left the three angels to rule the digital world. The ten legendary warriors became just that, legends.

These ten had fought harder and longer than any other digimon, so their fractal codes sustained sever damage. For rest, they lived in Cherubimon's castle under the rose morning star. Eventually, the damage they had sustained during the civil war and the war with Lucemon forced them to lessen the strain on their data by shrinking their physical bodies into the statues you know as the spirits of the ten legendary warriors.

The peace created by the legendary warriors, maintained by the three angels, extended centuries beyond any previous time, but even this great reverie was doomed to failure for Lucemon's vengeful spirit still lingered. It possessed Cherubimon and urged him to start another war, this time between the human and beast-type digimon.

Seraphimon attempted to renew the spirits of the ten legendary warriors, but the fractal code was too damaged. When he was attacked and sealed within the ceiling of his castle at the forest terminal, Ophanimon searched for another way to revive the ancient saviors. She scoured the libraries of her castle. Though she found no sure way to restore damaged fractal code, she did discover the history of human aid. There were rumors that the first humans to enter the digital world were able to merge digimon, and their combined power was enough to delete a fatal virus devastating the newly formed digital world. Cherubimon was closing in on her, so in one last desperate attempt, she sent a plea to the human world, calling for children, humans who had not fully developed.

Her hope was that the incomplete human children could merge with the incomplete data from the ten legendary warriors to create a complete creature; however, the two individuals had to have similar personalities. Only six children were found, but Lucemon had revived the other four using dark matter to force the spirits to regenerate. The six spirits that grafted to the humans developed the ability to grow that only humans posses and over time their data was restored, but they did not want to separate from their partners, even though they were now able to maintain a physical form of their own.

They continued to fight alongside their human companions up until the final confrontation with Lucemon; however, this battle proved more difficult than they had anticipated. They managed to destroy most of Lucemon's data, but a fragment, Lucemon's Larva, survived to initiate one final suicidal attack. Though the warriors loved fighting with their partners, they cherished their safety more. They took the final step in separating their physical beings from the human children to prevent any more injuries to their partners.

In short, the spirits acquired the human ability to regenerate from their human partners and over the time they spent with them, were able to regenerate to the point of completeness.

"We exist because of you."


	5. True Victim

"We exist because of you," Lobomon finished, staring gently at the stunned boy. The conclusion of his narrative answered with reverent silence. "And now, we will do all we can to protect you," Lobomon added quickly.

Kouji remained silent and smiling for a minute more before reverting to his tough guy attitude. "How does that help us find Kouichi," he growled, "and how does that help us with what is going on right now?"

As the other legendary warriors scowled at his rudeness, Lobomon just smirked, completely understanding his partner's personality.

"Excuse me," Ophanimon interjected, "but I have information on the other human children."

"When dya do dat?" Arbormon questioned and Grumblemon, Mercurymon, and Beetlemon all nodded in agreement.

"She snuck off while you boys drooled over Lobo's story, honestly, you boys are so difficult," Kazemon answered with her hands on her hips.

"Why butterfly always mean to Grumblemon?" the warrior of earth grunted quietly.

"You say something, earthworm?" Kazemon asked, glaring at the digimon now hiding behind mercurymon.

"Now, now, no need to argue," Agunimon interrupted, as he came between the two with his hands held up in a placating manner.

"If I may proceed," Ophanimon said, with a slightly condescending tone. The digimon nodded and Kazemon and Grumblemon hung their heads.

"As I was saying," Ophanimon started, "I have sent a message to the human world, asking the legendary warriors to return to the Shibuya station; however, I am not certain if the terminal has been completely repaired yet."

"I thought you said you had digimon guarding the trailmon gate to the human world," Kouji announced questioningly.

"We have digimon guarding the sides of the gate in the digital world," Seraphimon explained, "but we have to minimize the amount of contact we have with the human end of the gate."

"All we can do is hope that the digimon sent to repair the terminal have done enough to allow the other children to enter the digital world," Ophanimon concluded.

"So more waiting?" Kouji complained and punched the wall next to Bokomon and Naemon, causing both digimon to jump and scramble behind the nearest legendary warrior. Unfortunately, that happened to be Lobomon, who did not appreciate the two small things clinging to his leg. He grabbed the digimon by their waistbands and dropped them on the floor.

"Get off me you Ninny," Bokomon moaned as he stood up and then snapped Naemon's pants.

"Owwie," Naemon whined. As usual, the little digimon lightened the mood of the entire room.

"Unfortunately, waiting seems to be our best option," Seraphimon sighed. "We really have no information on our enemy. We did not even know we had an enemy until…"

"Alphamon," Kouji interrupted suddenly.

"What?" Seraphimon questioned confused.

"When I was taken," Kouji explained quietly, trying to remember for himself the fragments he had overheard while in the lair of the enemy, "I woke up momentarily and heard a digimon calling for Alphamon to come, but I was sedated shortly afterwards. Where did you find me anyway? You were obviously fighting someone."

"We investigated the location and the fighters while you were unconscious," Seraphimon answered after waiting for anyone else to answer, "but the location was a simple cave in the dark area, nothing special, and the digimon were simple rookie level digimon."

"We have yet to find anything of importance," Ophanimon added. "The digimon appeared to have detected us and cleared any evidence of what they were planning. As Seraphimon said, there were only rookie level digimon left when Lobomon and the others arrived; however, they fought to the death. We could not capture even one. The amount of loyalty they had is astounding."

"That kind of loyalty only comes from years of servitude," Cherubimon added, almost ashamed. "This enemy must have been around for a while. The digimon were well trained to follow orders at all cost. What we do know about our enemy is that they must have been plotting secretly for an extended period of time, perhaps even before Lucemon made his move."

"Are we sure Lucemon is not involved?" Kouji asked.

"Yes," Cherubimon returned simply, earning a scowl from the somber teenager.

"Lucemon was reborn as all digimon are, but we have slightly altered his fractal code so that he is no longer able to evolve beyond champion," Seraphimon explained for his reserved colleague.

"Also," Ophanimon added, "we have been observing him carefully since his rebirth."

"The Royal Knights?" Kouji inquired slightly hopelessly.

"They were put under the same restrictions," Ophanimon sighed.

"I assure you," Seraphimon said, "we have researched this attack thoroughly. There is no connection to any past adversaries. There have been no further attacks on any area that we know of since we heard your call a week ago."

"This bugs me too, buddy," Agunimon said solemnly, "but … we just don't know what to do next."

"Geez, we are doing all we can," Beetlemon added quietly.

"We are slightly curious as to why the digimon seemed to abandon you without a huge fight," Seraphimon added after a moment. "There were only rookies guarding you and they just seemed like foot soldiers."

"They were looking for someone specific," Kouji reasoned. "As I said before, they examined Kouichi and I carefully before taking me away and … and throwing Kouichi overboard," Kouji finished quietly, hand reaching up to touch the charm around his neck.

"Kouji," Lobomon sighed. Suddenly, his eyes scrunched and he pursed his lips in a confused look. "Kouji," Lobomon inquired, "what is that thing around your neck you keep touching?"

"This?" Kouji confirmed, once again grabbing the locket.

"Yeah. You have been touching that thing off and on since you awoke."

"It was a gift from Kouichi for our birthday. I didn't even have a chance to give him my gift," Kouji dropped to a whisper.

Lobomon hesitated for a moment, not sure if the boy was ready to answer any more questions about the matter. Finally, after deciding to trust in the strength of his partner, he continued with his question, "What is written on the metal?"

"Kouichi," Kouji mumbled, seemingly not even paying attention to the digimon.

"Kouji, what is written on the metal?" Lobomon asked again.

Kouji turned to stare with determination at Lobomon. "Kouichi's name is written on this charm," Kouji growled, returning to the conversation. "He has an similar charm with my name on it."

"Did … " Lobomon faltered, unsure if he should press the already disturbed human any further, but he may have discovered something important. "Kouji," he pressed firmly, "did the digimon who captured you look at that charm?"

Kouji nodded mutely, not understanding what Lobomon was trying to confirm.

"And Kouichi's?"

Nod.

"And he only discarded Kouichi … "

Punch.

"He only let go of Kouichi after looking at the charm … "

Nod, slower.

"So, the digimon took the human with the name 'Kouichi' around their neck?"

Realization.


	6. Rising Conflict

"So our enemy is after Kouichi?" Agunimon asked stunned. "Man, this keeps getting more and more confusing. Argh … why can't the bad guys just attack us so we can cream 'em?"

"Our enemy is clever," Seraphimon warned, "dangerously clever."

"Look at us!" Agunimon raged. "We know nothing about these baddies and we are acting like scared little babies."

"It is because we know nothing that they are so dangerous!" Lobomon snapped back.

"Please don't fight," Kumamon pleaded as the warriors of fire and light stared each other down.

"So, let's kick down their door and find something," Agunimon shouted, unaware of Kumamon's plea.

"Even if the rest of us were as big a moron as you, we don't know where they are, that's the point," Lobomon yelled back, not heeding the little bear either.

"Then we go out and find them!"

"How do you suggest we do that?"

"WE! … WE! … We … It's Kouichi …" Agunimon deflated.

The silence stretched throughout the entire room, with the same thought on every person's mind. _We could not save him last time. _Agunimon's display of frustration echoed within the spectators, each of whom wished to make the same fuss. Agunimon was their leader not only for his strength, but also for his ability to free the inner feelings the others locked away.

"I know," Lobomon said finally, "but we can not rush at this enemy. This enemy is unlike any we have ever fought before mainly because before we always had some idea of who we were fighting."

"I know you do not wish to hear this, Agunimon," Cherubimon admonished, "but we have to approach this differently, more intelligently."

"We have to be prepared for anything," Ophanimon added. "That is why we are going to wait here for the other children to arrive."

"How are we supposed to help anyway?" Kouji asked with a scowl.

"What do you mean?" Lobomon returned, confused.

"You said yourself that we can't protect ourselves any longer because we can't spirit evolve, so what do we do? What is our purpose here?"

"To find Kouichi," Lobomon replied quietly.

"I KNOW THAT! Don't think I forgot about my own brother! But, last time I saw Kouichi he was swimming in the ocean in the HUMAN world, not the digital world."

"Yet, we know our enemy is after him. They have traveled to the human world once; they will do it again. From what '_you said yourself', _these digimon were willing to kill hundreds of humans to get what they wanted, which happens to be our brother."

"Our …"

"Kouichi is family to all of us."

"I believe it truly is time for all of us to get some rest," Ophanimon spoke in the silence that followed Lobomon's declaration.

Without another word, the digimon began leaving the room one at a time until only Lobomon, Kouji, and the angels were left.

"Please, my children, get some rest," Ophanimon soothed, hoping to stop any further strain between the warriors of light.

Silently, Kouji turned to exit the room, Lobomon following. In the hallway, Lobomon gingerly placed a hand on Kouji's shoulder and, when it was not thrown off, led the somber boy down the hallway.

Lobomon led the boy up several flights of stairs and through many hallways. Kouji started to wonder where they were going. Finally, they arrived in front of a door with the symbols of light and dark engraved in it. Lobomon reached around Kouji, whom he had been pushing in front of him, to open the entrance.

"This is Lowemon's and my room," Lobomon whispered.

As he pushed open the door, Kouji glimpsed a plain room, much like his own, the one he now shared with his brother. There were two beds on opposite sides of the room, and much to his pleasure, they did not fit the stereotype for "yin and yang." Both beds were the same with a simple blue blanket draped over a pillow. The only other object in the room was a painting over the bed on the right, which reflected the face of each of the angels, the ten legendary warriors, and the six human children.

"Lowemon's bed is under the picture," Lobomon said quietly, "and since I have no idea where _my_ twin brother is, you may sleep in his bed."

Kouji said nothing. There was nothing left to say. In the few hours he had been awake, he had become more exhausted than he had gotten during the entire last week. Without any more hesitation, Kouji strode over to the aforementioned bed and closed his eyes.

Slow sounds hissed under the still early sun, startling the sleeping soldiers.

As the warriors woke, the sound escalated until it consumed the entire castle with its notes. Kouji and Lobomon raced down the corridors of Seraphimon's castle until they entered the main hall, where the others were already waiting for them.

"What is going on?" Lobomon demanded, having to shout over the now deafening static.

"Hoppermon," Ophanimon explained, "rookie level digimon. Their shrieker attack will stop you in your tracks."

"They have yet to make any physical attack yet," Seraphimon added.

"They are just a smoke screen," Sorcerermon reasoned, "probably preventing us from hearing what the higher level digimon are planning."

"What does that mean?" Beetlemon asked.

"That means we do not know where the enemy is going to attack from," Sorcerermon responded grimly.

"We have to be prepared for an attack from any direction and of any kind," Cherubimon advised as quietly as possible over the still shrieking hoppermon.

"Kouji!" Lobomon called quickly and grabbed said boy's arm. "Stay by me no matter what. Don't try and be tough by attacking the enemy on your own. Just don't leave my side and I won't let anything happen to you."

Kouji almost retorted, but heard Lobomon's whisper above the noise.

_I have already lost two brothers. I won't lose you, too._

Kouji lowered his head to ponder the misfortune of the last week before nodding slowly. Lobomon returned the gesture and pulled out his light sword. The other warriors reluctantly mirrored Lobomon's action, pulling out their own weapons in preparation for the unknown. An enemy they could not see was hiding within the bushes of their own castle.

A blast from the left.

An explosion from the right.

An attack from above.

"And so it begins … "


	7. Agony

They fought. Digimon of all levels were their enemies. Digimon jumped, flew, floated, slithered down from the decimated ceiling. Kouji stared apprehensively at the approaching digimon, his experience as a legendary warrior and fury at these digimon who attacked his family preventing him from feeling true fear. He stared impassively as the digimon advanced on them.

Beetlemon's nervous nature caused him to fire the first shot into the oncoming horde. A dozen digimon dissolved into fractal code, but no egg appeared. The surrounding soldiers charged unfazed at the now stunned warriors. No egg. No egg. For trained warriors, the appearance of a digi-egg provided the only comfort a killer could receive when extinguishing a life. A digi-egg allowed a soldier to justify their attack, for a destroyed digimon does not die, but is purified and reborn.

They were unable to ponder this startling fact or its implications. The enemy was upon them. Lightning Blitz. Their attacks came unannounced. Fire, water, wind, shadows, all destroyed without pattern. No clear fire digimon or dark digimon emerged. Seismic Sledge. The same digimon, who flung a light attack, chucked a thunder attack afterwards. Their level was just as ambiguous.

This confusion forced the warriors to abandon any semblance of order. Hurricane Wave. Systematically, the enemy digimon separated their targets. A wall of attacks force Grumblemon to burrow underground, his natural impulse as the warrior of earth, while all the other warriors leaped to the sides, half on the left, half of the right. The throng surged into the divide between the warriors and prevented them from regrouping. Draining Rain.

Grumblemon sprung from the ground within the vicinity of the enemy and was overwhelmed. With a flash of fractal code, he was gone. Dark Reflection. They could not be affected. As with all horrendous events, numbness consumed the body to ensure survival.

Arbormon, Mercurymon, Kazemon, and Beetlemon joined on the left, guarding Seraphimon and Ophanimon as well as they could. Power Pummel. Most of the digimon turned to focus on this group, while only a handful focused on the other group, of Agunimon, Kumamon, Ranamon, Cherubimon, Lobomon, and Kouji, leaving them incapable of aiding the warriors on the other side of the room.

With a precision that could only be crafted with years of planning, the enemy digimon leaped on the warriors on the left. Thunder Fist. Surging through the fractal code of their fallen allies without hesitation, using the glow of death as a screen. Back, back, back they pushed the warriors until their backs merged with the wall. In a desperate protectiveness, Ophanimon charged into the enemy throng. And. Was. Gone. Slide evolution, Metalkabutarimon. The enemy, taking advantage of the immobility of the trapped warriors, unleashed simultaneous attacks that blended into a wall of power, which destroyed everything in its path, enemy or ally.

Metalkabutarimon. Gone.

Arbormon. Gone.

Seraphimon. Gone.

Kazemon survived behind Metalkabutarimon's large body. Slide evolution, Zephyrmon. Mercurymon reflected the attack, barely. Slide evolution, Sakkakumon. Their rage destroyed dozens, but the gaps were filled without sound, without hesitation. Hurricane Gale. Rumble Blend. Plasma Pods.

The right side of the room fought with mandatory unaware attitudes towards their fading friends. Pyro darts. Their only indication of the complete loss of the left was the sudden surge of attacks directed towards them from digimon finishing their plan for the other group, utter annihilation. With his elevated eyesight, Cherubimon spotted the entrance to the castle aqueducts. Blizzard blaster. Out. Out. He had to get the remaining warriors out. He leaned down and scooped the remaining warriors into his arms, folding them within his body so no attacks could reach them directly. In a giant hop, he reached the entrance and without wasting any precious minutes, threw the warriors through the gateway to survival.

With Cherubimon's massive body barricading the door, the survivors gasped in a much-needed breath. Slide Evolution, KendoGarurumon. The beast spirit of the warrior of light positioned himself on the trailmon tracks and urged Kouji and Kumamon onto his back. The grunts of pain from Cherubimon echoed in the tunnel. Quickly. Slide Evolution, BurningGreymon. The beast spirit of the warrior of fire reached for Ranamon, but she backed away. Slide Evolution, Calmaramon.

"Go," her grating voice portraying a genuine kindness that cannot be detected in a forever-sweet voice. "I will hold them off once … once Lord Cherubimon … is … "

"NO!"

"Go! GO!"

"Come on!"

"Survive. Save the world. We'll be waitin' at the beginnin' for ya sugah."

Lobomon surged forward. _Protect Kouji. _BurningGreymon soared above. _Protect Kumamon._ They did not look back as a dim glow filled the entrance. ACID INK. TITANIC TEMPEST. ACID Ink. TITanic tempest. Acid Ink … titanic tem …

Crack. Chink. The glass transformed into an eggshell, marred with spider-web cracks.

Faster.

Crack.

Faster!

Chink.

FASTER!

CREAK!

No air for their lungs.

Black.


	8. Strengthening Resolve

Light.

Dark.

Light.

Dark.

Haze.

Dark.

Colors.

Dark.

Shapes.

Dark.

"Kou … ji?"

_Kouji? _

Pressure on shoulder. Shaking.

_Me?_

"Kouji!"

"Lobom …" Kouji was jerked away from any realization of his surroundings by a shattering coughing fit.

"Easy, easy," soothed a voice above his head, which was being stroked gently. A tense silence stretched throughout the room, as Kouji's rapid breathing dwindled back to normal. After an eternal five minutes, Kouji examined the world around him. The first thing he noticed was an absence of weight. There was a mystical quality to the area, with him floating within a dim yellow haze.

His face asked the question his stunned voice could not.

"We are in Sirenmon's … house," Lobomon answered as he swam to Kouji's side.

The hand on his head vanished and he felt a rush of water as the creature behind him shifted. Black hair drifted past his face, then skin so pale it could only belong to a digimon, finally a yellow fish's tail with a black stripe along the edge swished, sending a wave into his face. The being turned to reveal a pale face on which obsidian eyes shone above pale, yellow lips.

"I am Sirenmon," the digimon introduced, producing a pale hand to the boy.

The hand sported long slender fingers. Piano hands, Kouji thought absently. His father had once taken him to piano lessons and the teacher explained that the ideal piano player had long thin fingers. Kouji stared at the hand in a stupor.

"Kouji?" Lobomon inquired softly.

Sirenmon retracted her hand impassively. "He is probably still in shock," she murmured gently.

"I … I … Kouji," the boy announced, voice fading in and out.

"Hey, buddy."

_Agunimon. _

"H ...Hi."

_Kumamon._

Slowly, Kouji's mind processed the two new faces around him. With a sudden wrench, the tragedy returned. The three surviving warriors, having already experienced this intense moment of realization, waited patiently for the agony to settle and the unfeeling survival instinct to awaken. Knowing personally the length of such a process, the warriors silently relaxed around the boy, offering whatever gentle physical comfort they could.

"What … what …?" Kouji faltered, but the message was conveyed.

"The … tunnel collapsed … we were swept away by the rush of ocean water," Lobomon explained.

"The O … Oth …"

"The others did not make it," Lobomon finished with as much strength as the defeated possess.

"Allow me to continue," Sirenmon's soothing voice flowed over the battle weary fighters, "as I have done with each of you before him. The story is not long."

She flowed closer to the still child and gently blew against his mouth, a yellow mist pouring from her mouth, surrounding the drained boyish face. "I can give you breath, where there is no air," she whispered as the mist seeped into the expressionless visage before her.

"I discovered you four sinking to the ocean depths," she continued as she widened the distance between them once more. "Using my special attack, Siren's breath, I resuscitated you all and had you moved to my underwater cottage by my Divermon. I watched as you awoke, one by one. With each new consciousness, I learned more of you sad tale. Unfortunately, I found no other life from that area."

Kouji nodded. There were no words. He glanced at ice, fire, and light.

"You are fee to explore my home," Sirenmon spoke before Kouji could wallow in pain. "It would do you good to relax from what I have heard of your story."

"Can we talk to the boy in private?" Lobomon inquired.

"Of course, my friends," Sirenmon replied gently. Gracefully, she flowed to a large circle carved into the wall, an entranceway of sorts. There, she turned and blew a kiss towards the beings within, creating a yellow mist once more which filled the entire room before seeping into the figures.

"What do we do?" Kouji's question floated around the room in silence.

"We ….

"Fight."

"Run."

The argument between the two warriors was a common one. Agunimon, the warrior of fire, the passionate element, wanted to fight with his own hands, while Lobomon, the warrior of light, the all-seeing element, desired a battle of the minds. A glaring match ensued much to the dismay of the other two survivors.

Before another conflict could arise, the youngest digimon in the group positioned himself between the two. "No more fighting. Not now. Not between friends when we have already lost so many," the pain in his voice causing their heads to lower immediately.

"We were given a task to protect the digital world," Lobomon started calmly, "and it is our obligation and privilege to fulfill this duty despite what tragedies we may have to endure. To do that, we must create a strategy against these enemies."

"A strategy? We have to pummel them into the ground for what they did."

"They have been like this for as long as I have been awake," Kumamon whispered to the still confused Kouji.

Kouji listened in a daze as the two continued their well-known debate. His mind trapping him in the nightmarish memory created only …

"How long has it been?" Kouji asked once the lack of a timeline presented itself in his memory.

"From what Sirenmon has told us, it has been about four days, but we have only been conscious for two," Lobomon answered, turning away from his debate partner.

"What do we know about this Sirenmon?" Kouji inquired, attempting to understand more about these new circumstances.

"Not much, but she appears to be no threat," Lobomon reassured him.

It had been about three hours since he had awoken and Kouji was finally regaining some grasp of the situation. "They are not dead," Kouji started slowly. "I was watching. Their digi-eggs appeared and they will be reborn in the village of beginnings."

"Yeah," Agunimon responded, a hint of a question in his voice. He had not personally seen their fellow warriors digi-eggs because he had been too busy fighting. He assumed the warriors had been sent to the village of beginnings, but he was still comforted to hear Kouji confirm his thoughts. As were the others.

Kouji made his first movement since regaining consciousness; he straightened himself in the water, so he was facing Lobomon directly. "We just have to go there and get them," he continued. "The enemy is powerful. I do not think we would be enough to fight them alone," Kouji added before Agunimon could retort.

Reluctantly, the warrior nodded and the other two sighed in relief. "As much as I hate to admit it, I really think you are right," he added slowly. "Okay," Agunimon shouted, slapping his cheeks. "No more moping! We're the legendary warriors, buddy."

With a slight annoyance at his split personality, the other three agreed. They had to reach the village of beginnings and find their friends!


	9. Siren's Song

"So, team," Agunimon announced loudly, "How do we get out of here?"

"Maybe we should look around," Kumamon suggested, the first hint of cheerfulness showing after the long trepidation.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Agunimon echoing the new light mood.

"Fine," Lobomon said, his aloof attitude his version of returning to normal, "but we should pair up."

The four nodded, and Agunimon and Kumamon swam left out of the entrance, leaving Kouji and Lobomon alone. The two left the room without making a sound and turned towards the right. The hallways were taller than even Cherubimon, but narrow. Yellow spheres floated around the hall in no particular pattern creating a random scattering of light, some areas bright as day, some as dark as night in the Dark Continent.

They swam through the uniformly decorated building, rarely spotting any new furniture: a picture of their host, statues of various digimon, and various pieces of furniture. After nearly two hours of uneventful exploring, they spied a rock jutting out of a wall behind a tapestry like a button. Curious, the two swam to the mysterious cube and discovered Ranamon's symbol carved into the surface. Lobomon gingerly touched the thing, which was now confirmed to be a button of some sort for it retreated into the wall. Once level with the wall around it, the button emitted a dim green blow that spread into the surrounding wall forming a circle. The glow faded and took the wall with it, destroying the stone to create an opening.

Secret Room.

What could their new 'friend' be hiding? Curiosity rose. They wanted no more surprises. Not needing to say a word, the two agreed to examine the room within. The room seemed the same as the rest of the castle with one exception. In the middle of the room, a large marble pedestal rose towards the ceiling. On top of the column was a black box, a simple black box. Kouji was the first to venture closer to the mysterious object. It seemed to summon him with a connection he had only felt from his brother.

Kouichi.

His twin's face emerged the sphere underneath the box. Kouichi was there. He was scared. He was confused. Kouji's hands flew to the sphere. As soon as his flesh touched the sphere, the image changed, zooming out to show Kouichi wandering with the Dark Continent around him. He could see his other half wandering around the forest near the border.

"Kouichi!" he called out to the picture.

"Kouji! Be quiet!" Lobomon whispered harshly.

"Hello?" a sweet voice floated in from the other room.

"We have to get out of here," Lobomon commanded returning the black box to its position over the sphere.

"Kouji, Lobomon, What are you doing in here?" Sirenmon's melodious voice drew their eyes to her body. Lobomon listened carefully for any sign of anger or deception, but was unable to detect any.

"We were just looking around when we saw the symbol for the warrior of water," Lobomon tried to cover slowly, "and being legendary warriors, we wondered what was in here. We had arrived just seconds before you."

"There is nothing of importance in here," Sirenmon explained, voice wholly unfazed by the subtle insinuation that she was hiding something. "Ranamon gave me a valuable seashell, which has become quite important to me."

"Where?" Lobomon asked. "Under that black box?"

"Naturally," Sirenmon's voice remained as sweet as before, "it is a unique color, and the hues would fade if it received too much light."

"May we see it?" Lobomon tried again.

"I am afraid not," Sirenmon replied with a hint of remorse. "I have a strict schedule for the times I can view it to ensure it does not get damaged. I will be displaying it tomorrow evening if you would like to see it."

"We should be leaving by then, so we would really like to see it now," the accusation displayed openly.

"The gem is very rare, I may never see another like it, therefore I would like to preserve it," Sirenmon responded unaffected by the malice in Lobomon's voice. "Besides, you will not be gone tomorrow."

"What do you mean by that?" Kouji question harshly, finally rejoining the conversation.

"Well," Sirenmon started slowly, "I need to infect you with Siren's breath every two hours. It takes more than three hours to reach the surface of the ocean from this depth, so you can not leave without me."

Kouji's face displayed a tenseness that frightened Lobomon. Kouji was not shaken easily. Lobomon felt the same unease about this digimon, but she seemed sincere, so sincere it was troubling.

"Then," Lobomon returned after a pause, "we need you to escort us as soon as possible. We have important matters to attend to."

"I can not escort you tonight; I have a meeting to attend to tonight and tomorrow. Perhaps I can take you the day after tomorrow if my meetings do not run too long, but I am afraid to say, they often do."

"The fate of the digital world may depend on us reaching land. We must insist you take us now," Lobomon growled.

"I am sure you are in need of more rest," Sirenmon's utter lack of reaction increased their uneasiness.

"We are legendary warriors; we heal quickly," Lobomon explained, taking a new approach. "We could negotiate with whomever you need to meet with. I am sure they would give you an extension if a legendary warrior were to request it."

"Perhaps, but the people would be greatly inconvenienced, which could hinder any future meetings. Furthermore, if you stayed, you would have time to think about a strategy and overcome your loss. You must not have any regrets in battle."

"We are fine!"

"Two hours must have almost passed," she mumbled, then turning back to the warriors of light said, "I am sure your mood will improve momentarily."

Siren's Breath.

As the yellow mist surrounded the warriors, their anxiety seemed to melt.  
"Maybe we could stay for a while longer," Kouji reasoned with a sigh. "It would be nice to rest some more."

"Of course, if you desire, you can stay forever."


	10. Confusion

"Of course, if you desire, you can stay forever," Sirenmon's voice made Kouji and Lobomon forget about their uneasiness and this time, they left when Sirenmon asked them to leave. Without recognizing, the two warriors had returned to the room they awoke.

Soon, Agunimon and Kumamon entered in the same dazed manner.

"We should rest."

"Yes, we need rest."

"Sirenmon said rest would be good for us."

The four warriors slept without any further discussion. They seemed incapable of doing anything but 'resting.' The next hour consisted of naps, but near the end of the second hour they seemed rejuvenated.

"Why are we just sitting around?" Agunimon asked suddenly. Not being a very patient digimon by nature, he was frustrated by the laziness around them.

"We needed to rest?" Kumamon responded, though there was little conviction in his questioning voice.

"Kouichi?" Kouji said, as if remembering something from a dream.

"What?" Lobomon asked, more to himself than the others. "We found something about Kouichi," he continued. "He was in a globe?"

"The secret room," Kouji added.

"Woah, buddy, what secret room?"

"There … was … Ranamon's symbol was on a wall and …" Lobomon tried to supply, but could not seem to remember.

"It activated a hidden door," Kouji's voice suddenly got stronger.

"Yes," Lobomon seemed to become aware of their previous discovery, "and inside the room was a weird sphere."

"We could see Kouichi in it …"

"… and he looked confused…"

"Then, the sphere showed him…"

"…wandering around the Dark Continent."

"Kouichi is in the Digital World," Kouji finished their explanation with a triumphant smirk.

"Then what are we doing here?" Agunimon cheered with renewed enthusiasm.

"I don't know," Kouji replied, feeling suddenly guilty. "We were in the room, then we were … here."

"This place is kinda freaky," Kumamon whined.

"Whatever. Let's just go. My brother is here and I've got to find him," Kouji declared adamantly.

"Hold on, little buddy," Agunimon's statement received a glare from the teen. "Anyway, " Agunimon continued slightly wary of the human's volatile emotions, especially in regards to his brother, "we do not even know where exactly here is."

"The hot head actually has a good point," Lobomon muttered.

"Hey!" Agunimon yelled.

"Please don't start," Kumamon interjected being the appointed mediator between the leaders of the legendary warriors.

"Fine!" Agunimon grumbled.

"He was right though," Lobomon consented. "We really don't know anything about where we are or how we escape."

"Escape?" a melodious voice sounded behind them. "You make it sound as if you are my prisoners," Sirenmon cooed as she entered the room. The four tensed at her appearance without really knowing why.

"That is not what we meant at all," Lobomon responded carefully. "We just meant that …," he trailed off, not knowing exactly how to disarm the situation.

"We don't know how to get out," Kouji continued, not caring what she thought of his words.

"You just woke from a terrible experience this morning," Sirenmon said, ignoring the obvious question in his statement. _How do we get out of here?_ "You would not want to strain your body so soon."

"We are the legendary warriors. We get loads of strength," Agunimon quipped.

"Even the strongest warriors must know when to rest," Sirenmon chided gently.

"Rest?" Kumamon questioned. It was unsettling how much that word was coming up lately.

"Yes, my little pet," Sirenmon said. She swam over to the little bear and started stroking his head.

"We are not pets!" everyone but Kumamon, who was too apprehensive about Sirenmon, shouted.

"Two hours passes so quickly when you are watching little cuties," Sirenmon whispered to herself.

'Two hours' floated within the minds of the warriors. Where had they heard that before?

Sirenmon moved from Kumamon and circled the other digimon in the room. Once she reached the only human in the room, she stopped and a hint of pity flickered on her face.

"It really would be unwise to leave my manor at this time," Sirenmon said, sounding sad for the first time since they had talked with her. Quickly, she swam to the door and reinstated her attack over the four. Siren's Breath.

As before, they seemed to forget everything from the last two hours ,which would make them do anything outside of Sirenmon's wishes.

"Not yet," Sirenmon's tender whisper barely reached the figures within the room.

Another hour and a half passed in delirium for the warriors as the effects of Sirenmon's attack seeped into their bodies. This time, Sirenmon returned before the effects could even begin to wear off, preventing the warriors from doing anything but wallow in her command to rest.

Siren's Breath: reverse.

"What?" Kouji's world suddenly became clearer.

"I had hoped to let you all rest for a while longer, but the enemy is drawing near," that was Sirenmon's voice, Kouji recognized.

"Get away!" Kouji yelled as he fully awoke from her attack. Kouji's shout aroused the other warriors. When Lobomon realized that Sirenmon was hovering over Kouji, he lunged at the deceptive digimon.

"Please wait," Sirenmon implored the angered digimon.

"Why should I?" Lobomon growled.

"I could easily stop you with my attack if I wanted, but I am not," Sirenmon reasoned.

"I don't care," Agunimon jumped into the fight. "You manipulated us."

"Only to get you to rest," Sirenmon continued trying to placate them. "You truly had been through a horrible battle and knowing of the stubborn determination of the legendary warriors, I believed the only way to get you to rest in order to recover your strength would be to hypnotize you."

"You … you had no right to do that," Agunimon retorted loudly.

"It was in the best interest of the digital world," Sirenmon pushed, "and therefore, I had every right. I am a guardian as well. I know that you wish for retribution for your fallen comrades, but this enemy cannot be beaten by strength alone. You needed to be in the best condition possible, both physically and mentally. Though your bodies had recovered, your minds were still damaged."

"Then why free us now?" Kouji asked.

"I had wished to make the transition between the effects of the attack smoother, but the enemy took away that option," she said with a determination that made the warriors question her loyalties.

"So are you friend or foe?" Lobomon demanded, raising his sword towards her. The digimon in question glared at the sword for a moment, then sighed.

"I am both and I am neither," she replied mysteriously.

"What does that mean?" Agunimon groaned.

"As I said, I am a guardian of the digital world. I will do what I believe is in its best interests, no matter what side of a war that may be. At this time, I believe you are the side fighting for the benefit of all the digital world, and so I will support you whether you want my kind of help or not."

"Again, why free us now?" Kouji asked, frustrated at not receiving a clear answer.

"Your enemy has fixed the malfunction in their soldiers that prevented them from following you under the ocean waters and come for you even now. We must hurry. I will take you to the shores of the Dark Continent. There you must seek out the key to the open gate."


	11. Land Ho

"I must show you something first, but we will leave as soon as I am done," Sirenmon explained quickly, then she swam off without another word. Kouji glanced around the room at his digimon allies, trying to determine whether or not to trust the digimon who was changing sides frequently.

"We really don't have any other choice," Kumamon whispered uncertainly. Reluctantly, the others nodded. Kouji took the initiative and lunged forward to follow Sirenmon. He was determined to do whatever necessary to find his brother. The others, drawing courage from the adamant boy, followed.

Sirenmon led them wordlessly down many corridors, with a precision they did not have when they explored the uniformly decorated hallways. Eventually, she turned to enter a room; a room Kouji and Lobomon knew. It was the room with the hidden room behind the tapestry. Agunimon and Kumamon watched in awe as the symbol for water spread along the wall and created an entranceway to the secret room.

Once in the room, Sirenmon removed the black box from the pedestal and tapped the sphere underneath. An image of the cruise ship appeared. The digimon were confused by Kouji's stunned reaction.

"It's the ship I was on in the human world," Kouji explained, still slightly dazed at the sphere's omnipotent qualities even though he had witnessed them before.

"I was watching you and the key," Sirenmon started her narrative. "I witnessed the enemies plan to retrieve the key from the human world and did what I could to hinder them."

"Nothing helped us," Kouji muttered sourly.

"I said I hindered the enemy, not that I helped you. I told you I must be an unbiased guardian," Sirenmon clarified. "The storm?"

"Storm? What about it?"

"That is the only thing I could do with my powers in the human world. I created a storm to obscure the view of the digimon; however, the digimon are very persistent in their goal to find the key to the open gate."

"What is this open gate you keep talking about?"

"There are two gates between the human and digital world: the gate of light and the gate of darkness."

"But, Ophanimon said there may be many gates."

"What you have witnessed are cracks in the wall between the worlds. As time wears on, the barrier weakens in spots and some powerful digimon are able to find those spots and widen them. The pathway Lucemon created in the Dark Area was not the Dark Gate. Only a small number of digimon have been able to pass between the worlds through these wholes. The attack you experienced in your would is only a small encounter compared to what could happen if the enemy were to find the key to the Dark Gate for it would allow hordes of digimon to pass between the world. "

"The key, that's my brother?"

"Yes. Fortunately, the digimon mistook you for him, delaying their plans."

"What about the Gate of Light?" Agunimon queried looking at Lobomon and Kouji.

"The Gate of Light is allowed to be open because it can be carefully monitored by the three angels of Light. Trailmon tracks were built to utilize this gate in case of emergencies, such as Lucemon. You are correct in assuming young Kouji is the key to the Light Gate, but as I said, the gate is open and monitored so there is no need for him in their plans."

"So they want Kouichi to open the Dark Gate to attack the human world?" Lobomon asked.

"No. These digimon have a grudge within the digital world. I believe they wish to use the Dark Gate to form a safe haven in the human world from which to launch their attack on the digital world."

"Bottom line, we have to find Kouichi and keep him from the badies?" Agunimon said, tired of all the talking. After a nod from Sirenmon, he yelled, "Then let's go!"

"Yes, yes, we mist hurry," Sirenmon started swimming rapidly out of the room and through the maze of corridors in her house, the four warriors right behind her.

They swam for close to an hour before reaching the shore. "Here," Sirenmon said, as her head appeared above the ocean's surface, "the Dark Continent. I can lead you no further. I will be watching you. Be careful."

"Alright, guys," Agunimon said as he walked onto land, " time to fight back."


	12. New Faces

"So?" Agunimon asked as he looked around the shore. "Where exactly are we?"

"I don't really know," Lobomon responded as he looked at the scenery around him for the first time. "We have never been to the beach area of the Dark Continent."

"So then let's go … that way," Agunimon cheered, pointing in a random direction. Lobomon looked ready to retort, but not having a better plan, just sighed and nodded.

The four-person group walked cautiously up the narrow ledge that separated the beach from the forest above, Lobomon watching Kouji carefully, knowing humans are not as durable as digimon. Once at the edge of the forest, they hesitated before trudging into the most dangerous forest in the digital world.

"So what do we do when we find Kouichi?" Kumamon.

The passed some trees.

"Protect him!" Lobomon.

More trees.

"Well, duh." Agunimon.

The trees all looked the same.

"What can we do about the enemy?" Kouji.

Some rocks now and then.

"We purify them! Agunimon.

Big rock.

"That will not be easy." Lobomon.

A big root in the path.

"Yeah, they beat us bad last time." Kumamon.

Glow.

"What's that?" Kouji.

Green glow.

"Glow moss?" Agunimon.

As the digimon approached the glowing moss that illuminated the otherwise dark forest, they started to recognize their surroundings. They had passed through this area before, and if they remembered correctly, there was a cave up ahead with some Pipismon. They sighed, at least now they were in familiar territory, but still they did not know where Kouichi was. With the sudden relief over the familiar setting, the warriors realized how tired their bodies were from walking all day.

"I think we should rest for the night," Lobomon suggested, seeing his own fatigue mirrored in his companions.

"The old ruins are near hear, just through the cave," Kouji suggested in relief.

"We can keep going," Agunimon argued, trying to maintain his boisterous persona, but the others knew it was just a show.

"We should gather some firewood and food on the way, so we do not have to go out later," Lobomon advised. The others nodded; the plan was a common one for the warriors.

The trek to the ruins passed with relative silence, as did the accumulation of supplies. As they approached the ruins, they noticed the glow from a fire emanating from the crumbled walls. Dropping their supplies behind a tree, the warriors armed themselves in preparation for any danger. Lobomon placed himself in front of Kouji, irritating the proud boy, but at the same time, creating a sense of comfort they both experienced when they shared the same soul.

They proceeded slowly. The glow increased. They inched forward. Voices sounded from within. They reached the room. Familiar voices? They rounded the wall. They entered the room.

"Takuya?" Kouji exclaimed, confused at the sight of the fiery teenager. "Zoe, J.P. ...?"

"Tommy!" Kumamon shouted with a smile, running forward to hug his partner.

"What are you guys doing here?" Agunimon asked walking over to his spirit counterpart.

"We've been looking all over for you guys," J.P. said, an exhausted tone in his voice.

"Yeah, we never thought we would find you, but here you are," Takuya asked with his legendary optimism. Kouji smiled. He needed the annoyance of his fellow warriors after everything he had been through the last two weeks.

"Where's Kazemon?" Zoe inquired, her bubbly personality shining with expectation, though it was quickly dimmed by the grim mood surrounding the four newcomers at her question.

"And Beetlemon?" J.P. asked, with apprehension. His question only increased the gloom.

"We … have plenty of food for everyone," Takuya announced, trying to distract the warriors, as his personality required. Normally, Kouji would have yelled at him to not think of food at a serious time like this, and Takuya's heart sank at lack of response.

Numbly, Kouji, Agunimon, Kumamon, and Lobomon moved to sit around the fire the other humans had already started frying meat apples. They sat in tense silence as the meat apples cooked and ate slowly, knowing they would have to talk as soon as the meal was finished.

Finally, there was nothing left to eat, and they realized with dread it was time to start explaining the events of the previous two weeks to the newly arrived human children. Lobomon took the initiative and began their sad tale, the others adding their personal perspectives from time to time though Lobomon did most of the talking.

"So .. they are g … goone?" Zoe asked, tears already leaking from her eyes.

Kouji swallowed slowly to get some more moisture to his dry throat. "Yeah," he said simply, finally. What else could he say to her?

"They will pay," Takuya growled with a determination he had not felt since Lucemon had scanned Kouichi. He stood up to charge and attack something, anything, but realizing there was nothing available, deflated back to his seat.

The others did not seem to share his enthusiasm, for they could not hide their pain as easily as Takuya. They needed Takuya to fight them through their depression.

"Sirenmon taught us to rest when necessary," Lobomon reasoned carefully, "and I think that right now, more than ever before, we need to rest."

"Besides," Agunimon added confidently, "they aren't gone. We just have to go get them from the village of beginnings."

"Before that, we have to find Kouichi and prevent this new enemy from using him," Lobomon added to appease the ailing children, "then, we will go find the other warriors and formulate a plan for taking down this new enemy no matter what."

"We will talk more in the morning," Kouji finished, setting an example by lying down around the fire.

"You children sleep," Agunimon urged quietly. "Lobomon and I will keep guard."

Reluctantly, the humans feel to the ground to sleep, each dwelling on the new information they had received. No one knew what would happen come morning. They could die. The world could be destroyed.


	13. Lost and Found

Morning, the dreaded time when you have to deal with the consequences of yesterday and the uncertainties of today, dawned on the eight figures desperately grasping for another minute, another second of sleep, but the sun was up and they had to face that. Kouji, already having time to digest their new dilemma, awoke first. When he sat up, the others, knowing they had no more excuse, followed. Everyone looked around no one figuring out a way to start their conversation about Kouichi, their dead allies, the enemies, the fate of the entire digital world, and perhaps the human world.

"Let's just go looking for Kouichi!" Agunimon, the ever spirited, always moving warrior, exclaimed into the silence.

"Yeah," Takuya added, slightly less enthusiastic than normal.

"Come on, buddy!" Agunimon shouted, jumping up and clapping Takuya on the shoulder. "Cheer up! We'll find Kouichi, reunite with the guys, crush some baddies, and then everything will be back to normal."

"I guess," Takuya responded, voice slightly more enthusiastic. "Yeah! Let's go!"

The small search army left the confines of the ruins much more talkative than they had been the previous night. Though their talk was random and unimportant, their moods dramatically increased. Their search was uneventful during the morning hours as they barely left the range of the ruins.

"What do we do when we find Kouichi?" Zoe asked after they had been walking for over five hours.

"We go to the village of beginnings to get the other warriors," Agunimon replied, having already discussed their action plan with Lobomon while they were keeping guard the previous night.

"How do we even know they will be there?" J.P inquired, gloom consuming his voice.

"They have to be," Kumamon responded quietly.

"They will be," Lobomon assured.

"I saw their eggs fly off unharmed during the attack," Kouji added, voice still containing a hint of guilt over his inability to aid his fellow warriors as a human child.

"How much longer is this going to take?" Takuya growled in annoyance.

"Stuff it Takuya," Kouji snapped, having gotten over the initial relief at seeing Takuya once again.

"My feet hurt and I'm hungry," Takuya continued to complain.

"Taku..."

"It has been a while since we were last in the digital world," Zoe interrupted both out of a desire to quell an argument and a genuine pondering over their situation.

"Yeah," J.P agreed. "We haven't really had to walk like this since the last time we were in the digital world. I guess we never really understood just how much the digital world had changed us until we saw the actual effects of it in the human world."

"I wonder how we are going to change this time," Tommy mumbled with a wisdom befitting the maturity he had gained in their previous digital excursion.

"Well, buddy," Takuya cheered, latching an arm around the youngest warrior, "We will just have to see once we return safely to the human world."

"… to the human world…"

"… to the human world…"

"… to the human world…"

"Pipismon!" Zoe chimed.

"Pipismon … Pipismon … Pipismon … Pipismon… Pipismon…"

"Wow! We haven't seen these guys in a long time. I'm glad their okay," Takuya smiled as he looked into the trees around them.

"… okay … okay… okay… okay… okay… okay…"

"How are you doing?" J.P. shouted into the trees.

"how are you doing… how are you doing … how are you doing… how are you doing… how are you doing…"

"Have you seen a boy who looks like me?" Kouji inquired of the still hidden digimon. "He's called Kouichi."

"Kouichi…Kouichi…Kouichi… Kouichi…Kouichi…"

This time, the Pipismon flew down from their perches in the trees and started flying off into the forest.

"Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi…"

"…. Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi …"

Kouji looked to Takuya. Takuya looked to Agunimon. Agunimon looked to Lobomon. Lobomon looked to Tommy. Tommy looked to Kumamon. Kumamon looked to J.P. J.P. looked to Zoe.

The Dark Continent epitomized the word weird. As the voices of the Pipismon faded, the small group glanced around baffled. What did that little theatrical mean? Did the Pipismon really know where Kouichi was or were they just repeating what they had heard from Kouji? They had to decide, but decide on what: whether or not to follow digimon who appeared unable to create any original thoughts?

"They did repeat his name more than anything else," J.P. mused.

"It could be their way of communicating with us," Zoe added.

"Or they could be completely creepy!" Takuya argued, slightly annoyed by the Pipismon's habits.

"What other lead do we have?" Kouji retorted. Kouji had been separated from his brother for more than two weeks, with no idea of how his brother was. All he knew was that his brother was somewhere in the Dark Continent, an area of hundreds of miles.

"What if they don't know anything? We could spend hours chasing them down and not find anything," Agunimon agreed with his partner.

"So? We have to search that way eventually," Lobomon interjected.

"Why should we go that way? I think we have a better shot at finding Kouichi if we go to the Rose Morning Star, at least it will be familiar territory," Takuya added to his previous argument.

"Since when did you think things out," Kouji snapped.

"Hey, buddy! Taky makes a lot of sense, don't you think maybe Kouichi would go there? It is familiar to him, too," Agunimon came back.

"We clearly saw Kouichi surrounded by trees. There are no trees anywhere near the Rose Morning Star," Lobomon reasoned.

"Yeah, but you also said that you saw that days ago. He could have gone there in that time," Takuya said, voice raising, getting agitated.

"Kouichi has bad memories of that place. I don't think he would go there," Kouji said, increasing his volume to outdo Agunimon. The argument escalated into incoherent shouts that blended together.

"Jeez, I thought it was bad when there was just two of them," J.P. mumbled as he, Zoe, and Tommy watched the four warriors fight.

"Yeah, I never thought anything could be worse than Takuya and Kouji, but this crossed that line. Boys!" Zoe agreed quietly.

"What are wegonna do?" Tommy whined.

"I don't want to get involved," J.P. whimpered.

Zoe and Tommy nodded in agreement.

"… Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi …"

The voices of the Pipismon returned and increased in volume as they became closer to the warriors. Eventually, the Pipismon reclaimed their perches above the warriors.

"… Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi …"

Their voices finally drowned out the sound of the argument between the warriors of light and fire.

"I think that may mean they actually do know something," Kouji snapped at Takuya.

" … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi …"

"Maybe," Takuya huffed.

"Maybe?" Kouji shouted back. "They must know something to have come back."

" … Kouichi …. Kouichi … Kouichi .. Kouichi …"

"And besides," Lobomon added, "if they didn't know anything, wouldn't they be repeating what we are saying right now?"

" … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi …"

"Yeah, maybe," Takuya whispered.

"Let's go," Kouji growled, already starting to walk towards where the Pipismon had flown. The others soon followed as the Pipismon flew off again.

" … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi … "

Kouji suddenly felt a hope spring within him. This had to work. The Pipismon must know where his brother was. Soon …

" … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi …"

The voices of the Pipismon shrieked continuously as they flew from tree to tree in the Dark Forest, searching for the boy within their words. The small band of legendary warriors followed unusual digimon, watching closely for the mirror image of the boy at the front of their search.

"Are they ever going to stop?" Takuya growled in frustration, clutching his ears tightly.

"My head feels all loopy," Tommy whined, clutching to Kumamon.

"Gey wiz, they've been talking nonstop for hours," J.P. croaked.

"They're even worse than boys," Zoe complained.

All the warriors, except Kouji and Lobomon, stopped to rest, their ears more than their feet. They sighed as the voices of the Pipismon faded into the surroundings.

"My ears are still buzzing," Kumamon yelled, not yet adjusted to the loss of constant loud echoing of the Pipismon.

"Do we really think these Pipismon know where Kouichi is?" Takuya asked.

"You just don't want to be wrong," Zoe snapped back.

"They obviously know something," Agunimon added. "I just didn't think they would be so relentless."

"Yeah. They even tired out Taky," J.P. mused.

" … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi …"

"Oh no, they're back," Takuya groaned.

" … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi …"

"What are you guys doing?" Kouji yelled over the Pipismon. The others war immediately jumped up, not wanting to release the fury boiling behind Kouji's eyes.

"Let's go," he commanded.

Takuya started to complain, " We …"

" … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi …"

"We …"

" … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi …"

"WE! …"

" … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi …"

"REST!"

" … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi … Kouichi …"

"QUIET!"

" Quiet … Quiet … Quiet … QUIET … QUIET … QUIETQUIETQUIETQUIETQUIETQUIET"

Kouji's glare intensified. He grabbed Takuya by his t-shirt front and slammed into the nearest tree.

"Come on! They know where my brother is!"

"FINE!" Takuya growled, too frustrated by the Pipismon to make any kind of comeback.

" … Kouichi …. Kouichi …"

The Pipismon started flying once more and the warriors all followed tiredly.

Suddenly, the echoes from the Pipismon increased in volume and tempo. "Kouichi, Kouichi, Kouichi, KouichiKouichiKouichiKouichi …"

At this, the weary group gained some wakefulness despite the late hour and the ever night-like atmosphere of the Dark Continent. There was a small clearing up ahead. It was glowing, but not burning. There must be a campfire there. Someone had to have built that campfire. Did Kouichi build that campfire? These thoughts urged to warriors to move faster, faster.

"KouichiKouichiKouichiKouichiKouichi"

"mmmmm"

Someone is in that clearing. They were saying something. What were they saying? Who was it? Kouichi?

These thoughts consumed the warriors as they rushed into the clearing.

No one.

There was not a single person in the clearing. There was a small campfire in the middle of the trees, but it was fading. The fire had been built a while ago.

"mMMmmmmMM"

A voice could be heard off in the distance, within the curtain of trees.

"KOUICHIKOUICHIKOUICHIKOUICHIKOUICHIKOUICH!"

"MMMmMMMmMMMM"

"KOUICHIKOUICHIKOUICHKOUICHIKOUICHIKOUICHI!"

"HELLO!" a shout could barely be heard over the Pipismon. "HEL … lo," the voice lowered when the Pipismon stopped shouting, so the voice could be heard clearly.

"Is someone there?" the voice was getting closer and sounded very familiar.

"KOUICHI!" this time Kouji's voice was the one that shouted, as Kouichi emerged from the blanket of trees.


	14. Help from the Shadows

**Lici's Rant: **Um… I am really embarrassed. I said I would try to update daily and here it has been three days THREE DAYS!! I am very sad.  Anyway, I am very, very sorry. Life got in the way (I won't bore you with the details). Anyway, just so you know, I DO NOT have writer's block, quite the opposite actually, I basically have the next 5 or 6 chapters planned. I just have not had time to sit down and actually type. So, yeah, I said what I needed to say, so read on if you wish …

"KOUICHI!" Kouji exclaimed as he ran across the clearing to where his brother had just emerged. "Are you okay, bro?"

"Kou .. ji … ?" Kouichi inquired slowly as he stepped closer to his brother. "Are YOU okay? You're the one who was kidnapped."

"I'm fine," Kouji responded in the kind voice reserved only for Kouichi. "What about you? What happened? How are you here?

"I guess we need to swap stories, eh?" Kouichi said, chuckling at his brother's worry. "Follow me. I gathered some meat apples for dinner. There should be enough for everyone. I always gather enough in case I run into someone I know. I dropped them when I heard my name. … by the way, who was calling my name?"

"Pipismon," Kouji answered, stunned. Kouichi appeared as if this were a normal night at home.

"Oh, well, come on …" Kouichi continued, smiling gently in an unwavering expression. Kouji followed Kouichi, leaving the others standing by engrossed by the scene. The twins gathered the food silently and returned within fifteen minutes to find the others in the same spot as before.

"Are you guys hungry?" Kouichi inquired lightly, as he started preparing the meat apples and stoked the fire.

"Are you going to stand there all night!" Kouji snapped-an order not a question.

"You guys really are the perfect team," Lobomon commented ominously.

"Night and Day," J.P. added, nodding in mock wisdom.

"Light and Dark," Tommy chimed, trying to be included in the conversation.

"Yin and Yang," Zoe cheered, not wanting to be left out.

"Nice and really, really, really mean," Takuya mumbled, arms crossed over his chest in annoyance.

"You say something, idiot," Kouji retorted.

"Nothing," Takuya grumbled.

"What?" Kouji questioned, a warning tone in his voice.

"Done," Kouichi said as he started handing out the meat apples, oblivious to the familiar bickering between his brother and his best friend.

Falling back into the usual routine they had developed in their last trip to the digital world less than a year ago, the small group ate around the campfire, exchange anecdotes from the past year.

"So what is going on?" Kouichi asked, suddenly serious, as he noticed everyone had finished eating. The others, knowing the seriousness of his question, sobered and waited for someone to start the explanations.

"Those digimon took me here and then Lobomon and the other legendary warriors found me. They took me to the forest terminal," Kouji started, being the most comfortable with Kouichi. "The Angels explained as much as they could to me, which unfortunately was not much, but we did figure out that the digimon were not after me …" Kouji finished quietly.

"So, they are after me?" Kouichi said, completely unemotional. Everyone, save Kouji, seemed surprised by Couch's blunt statement. "It is the logical conclusion."

"Yes, apparently you are the key to some gate between the worlds," Kouji elaborated, not at all fazed by his brother's frank attitude in regards to important matters.

"Gate, but digimon …"

"Cracks in the gate."

"Trailmon?"

"Monitored by the Angels."

"Light?"

"Yeah."

"The human world?"

"Digital world."

"Why?"

"Don't know yet."

"Others?"

"Gone."

"Village …"

"… of beginnings."

"Now?"

"You then there."

"Anything?"

"War history."

'What?"

"Humans before."

"HEY!!!" Takuya yelled, eyes wide and confused. "Speak English please, buddies."

"Whatever," Kouji muttered, annoyed at Takuya's outburst

"Just tell me everything you do know?" Kouichi prodded gently.

"Are you sure you are okay?" Kouji asked one more time.

"I – am – fine. When I was thrown of the ship, there was this weird blue mist and then I woke up here in the digital world. I have just been wandering around here since then. Nothing has happened," Kouichi reassured.

"It most have been Sorenson," Lobomon concluded.

The remainder of the evening was spent explaining the little information they had acquired over the last few weeks. After Kouichi heard the bits and pieces the warriors had learned, they all sat in silence watching the fire die down, simply reflecting on everything- all the changes they had encountered.

"So, what do we do now?" Kouichi asked, taking the initiative.

"I guess, we could, … maybe … ," J.P. attempted to contribute.

"We have to go to the village of beginnings," Kouji stated.

"Maybe we should stop by Cherubimon's castle," Kouichi suggested.

"Why?" Kouji asked, confused.

"There may be some clue there," Kouichi explained. "Cherubimon does have a lot of information stored there. I … I used to go through his library, looking for answers to my existence when I was Duskmon."

"So it's just more running away," Takuya grumbled.

"You have no idea what the enemy is capable of doing, Takuya," Kouji growled, "and you can not just attack them head on."

"We have not ev …"

"He's right," Agunimon interrupted Takuya. "I, too, saw what they could do. We need a plan."

"So, we go to the Rose Morning Star?" Zoe confirmed.

"Just like last time," Tommy cheered. "Off to the Rose Morning Star!"

"We should rest tonight, and leave in the morning," Lobomon advised.

Without any further complaints, the warriors all arranged themselves for sleep around the newly stoked campfire.

Slow sounds hissed under the still early sun, startling the sleeping soldiers.

The four warriors who had experienced this sound before jolted awake and roused the others from their sleep.

"Wha … ?" Takuya asked groggily. "What is that sound?" he questioned as he tried to block the sound out of his ears with his hands.

"Hoppermon," Agunimon said solemnly.

"The digimon from when you were attacked before?" Kouichi confirmed.

"Unfortunately," Kouji said, moving closer to his brother in a defensive manner.

"We have to get out of here," Lobomon ordered. Slide Evolution: MetalGarurumon.

"But …"

"I agree," Agunimon added before anyone could complain. Slide Evolution: BurningGreymon.

"No arguments. We are not strong enough to stop these enemies," MetalGarurumon growled and rolled over to the twins. "Get On."

Kouji and Kouichi climbed on without complaint, but Takuya and the others seemed reluctant to leave. MetalGarurumon went over to Zoe next, who climbed on behind the twins.

The noise steadily increased.

The Hoppermon were getting into position for the oncoming assault.

"Sorry, but I'd rather have you mad than dead, buddy," BurningGreymon shouted as he grabbed the three remaining humans. Kumamon jumped on to his back and the group was gone.

"Come on! Let's fight!" Takuya continued to shout as MetalGarurumon and BurningGreymon rushed as far away from the sound as they could.

"Where are we heading?" J.P. asked, looking around at the unfamiliar landscape.

"We can go to Cherubimon's castle. It might offer some protection, since you can only get in through the dark door," Kouichi offered.

"Works for me," BurningGreymon agreed, changing his course.

The sound of the Hoppermon fluctuated as the warriors tried to escape their range. The Hoppermon seemed to be chasing them, but at the same time the sound was flickering off and on.

"I can see the Castle," Zoe shouted.

As they approached the edge of the cliff that separated Cherubimon's Castle from the rest of the digital world, the sound of the Hoppermon seemed to fade completely.

"Do you think they stopped pursuing us?" MetalGarurumon asked. Slide Evolution: Lobomon. BurningGreymon picked up Zoe and flew up to the castle's plateau. Lobomon slung the twins under his arms and started hurdling the rocks floating around the castle.

"Hard to say." BurningGreymon.

"Would they really give up that easily?" Kumamon.

"I don't think so." Lobomon.

"We should get inside." Kouji.

"Where is the door." Tommy.

"Over here." Zoe.

"How do we open it." Takuya.

"That sound is back." J.P.

"They're back." BurningGreymon.

"Open. Open. Open," Takuya said as he pounded his head on the door.

"Allow me."

"LOWEMON!" Lobomon yelled at the appearance of the warrior of darkness. "What hap …?"

"Later," Lowemon commanded as he went to stand in front of the door. A dark violet glow surrounded him as he held his hands out in front of him. The light, or absence of, accumulated in his hands and formed a key-like object, which shot out towards the massive door.

The gold carvings on the door seemed to melt and a cobalt stone appeared. The black started fading, until only a light grey shadow remained.

"Come on," Lowemon said and walked through the misty doorframe. The others followed, only slightly surprised by the constant bizarreness of the Dark Continent.

On the other side of the door, the warriors emerged into the labirynth of stairways that made up the entryway of Cherubimon's castle.

"I'll take you to the library. It's very comforting, and as ironic as that may seem for this place, it's true," Lowemon said pleasantly, not at all worried about the digimon that were behind the warriors.

"The … Hop .. permon …" J.P. mumbled, confused at Lowemon's complacency.

"This Castle is safe," Lowemon started, as he led the warriors calmly through the stairways. "No one can enter except through the door we just came through and the door has been securely locked ever since Cherubimon was scanned last time you were here."

Slide Evolution: Aguimon. "So the digimon can't get in?" Agunimon asked, slightly unsettled by the suddenly peaceful atmosphere.

"No. I have been working on the barrier since the twins called," Lowemon responded. "By the way, hello kids. How are you doing, Kouichi, Kouji?"

"Fine," Kouji responded, the same carefree cheerfulness now reflecting in his voice.

"Buddy, your brother can be kind of creepy sometimes," Takuya whispered to Kouji. Kouji nodded slightly.

"Here we are," Lowemon said, as they approached a door large enough for Cherubimon's gargantuan body and decorated with the heavenly quality of one of the three angels.

As the warriors entered the room, they noticed hordes of books scattered around a spacious room, vaguely similar to Ophanimon's castle.

"As you can see I have done a bit of research," Lowemon said, motioning to the clutter, "and I have so much to tell you …"


	15. Know thy Enemy

The Dark Continent posses a distinctive culture and history found nowhere else in the digital world. This culture developed from the experiences of its people. Dark digimon are the most misunderstood of all digimon because they inhabit a world that appears different from what most expect to see: trees are not brown and green, the sky is not blue, the earth is black not brown, and there are many unique plants and digimon.

These disparities bred the greatest persecution ever experienced in the digital world. When the Great War between the elements broke out, the dark digimon took the greatest damage and experienced the greatest loss of life. Despite the tragedies imposed upon them, dark digimon are naturally timid creatures and thus retaliated with little aggression hoping the fighting would diminish with time; however, this would not happen.

When the fighting escalated into an unbearable height, the dark digimon formed a coalition of their bravest warriors to combat their enemies. This army trained in relative silence for a long period of time. There are records of extensive training sessions occurring at all hours of the day and for any number of hours or days.

These digimon were learning to destroy the strongest warriors of the digital world, but before these digimon could show their power, Lucemon came to power in the Light Kingdom and soon had created a peace throughout the digital world. Lucemon's influence even extended to the Dark Continent and convinced the leaders to form a peace treaty.

These warriors were discarded before they even started their battle plans, and thus left with battle hungry spirits that had no outlet. As the years under Lucemon's reign stretched on, the dark digimon received a sense of equality and belonging, but the warriors, known as the Dark Avengers, felt that this sudden acceptance was a way for the other digimon to ignore all the misdeeds committed against the dark digimon.

The Dark Avengers wanted the other digimon to atone for the injustices that the dark digimon suffered and felt that the dark digimon were being too forgiving. The Dark Avengers began plotting for a way to punish the other elemental digimon in the name of retribution.

Yet, their plans were delayed by the revolt against Lucemon and the resulting rule of the dark digimon Cherubimon. Unfortunately, this waiting made the digimon restless and violent. They were going to engage their plan shortly after Cherubimon's revolt, but the Royal Knights stepped in first, destroying everything before the Dark Avengers were able to do anything. They observed the reemergence of the legendary warriors and knew they would eventually defeat the Royal Knights and Lucemon.

So, they once again went into hiding, waiting for their chance to take revenge. In fact, they used the Royal Knights' battles to study the humans and their influence in the digital world. When the dark area was scanned, the Dark Avengers fled to the Red Moon of the digital world to reformulate their plans. Finally, their chance has come.

They have had decades to perfect their battle plans and strengthen their resolve. They will not fall easily. Somehow, they have perfected a means of manufacturing digital shadows like the one Cherubimon used in his first face-to-face encounter with the humans; however, unlike Cherubimon, they are able to create dozens of shadows for each one of their warriors, which has significantly increased their numbers.

"So our enemies are the Dark Avengers?"

The Dark Avengers are an enemy unlike any the digital world has ever faced for they are fighters with a deep moral purpose. The previous enemies of the digital world have been selfish creatures in search of power and domination. Fighting against a cause is dramatically harder than opposing a tyrant.

Simply scanning them may not be enough to purify their data because they have not become corrupted by evil; they feel truly justified for their actions. The only way to beat an opponent such as this is to truly understand all views of the situation. Knowledge and understanding are the best ways to combat this force.

The best information against these Dark Avengers is the true powers of the humans chosen as the legendary warriors. These humans are capable of unleashing a power greater than any single digimon because their physical beings or data, as it is known in the digital world, has been molded into a hybrid of humans and digimon.

However, these humans still need a conduit through which to manifest their powers. Despite the vast knowledge the celestial rulers posses, they could not find the mediums for the human hybrids. It is hypothesized that the key lies within the ten elemental monuments within Cherubimon's castle.

"Let's see if that theory is correct. Time for an upgrade children … "


	16. Metamorphasis part 1

Lici's rant/apology: Everyone, I am sorry for taking so long. I did say I am focused on my schoolwork and the quarter is almost over (next week). I had to take a break from this in order to get my grades up for my report card and I had to study for quarter exams. I still have a lot to do for this next week, but after that I am pretty much free until … well for a long time. Please be patient with me, I will do the best I can for the next week, then hopefully it will be back to daily updates.

"Let's see if that theory is correct. Time for an upgrade children. Follow me," Lowemon muttered, not really talking to the children, and walked out of the library, without waiting for the other warriors.

"Lobomon, your brother is kind of creepy too," Takuya said, as he watched the warrior of darkness disappear from the room.

Agunimon nodded.

"You are in my way," Lobomon said from behind Takuya, ignoring his outburst. Takuya just stared blankly at Lobomon, blinking slowly.

"Arggh … " Takuya groaned, holding his head.

"So move," Lobomon ordered, pushing the stunned boy aside. Lobomon stepped past Takuya and out into the hallway. Kouichi and Kouji followed him out. Tommy and Kumamon were next. Zoe left. J.P. left.

Takuya and Agunimon were left alone blinking at each other in an empty room.

"Maybe we should go with them."

"Yeah."

The small trail of beings walked through the inner maze of Cherubimon's castle until they reached a platform near the top. The marble room consisted of ten pillars each bearing the mark of one of the legendary warriors.

"I believe these pillars are the key to awakening the unique power of you human children," Lowemon said, once all the warriors had reached the room. He walked over to the pedestal, which bore his element and motioned for Kouichi to join him. "If you can somehow connect with your elements, I think you will be able to utilize them within the digital world without having to spirit evolve."

"How do we do that?" J.P. asked, walking over to his element. The others soon did the same, each moving to their particular pillar.

"That I don't know," Lowemon answered, examining the marble in front of him.

"So what should we do?" Zoe repeated.

"Just … focus on your element," Lowemon offered uncertainly.

"Just focus?" Takuya repeated skeptically.

"Just focus," Kouichi mumbled, placing his hand upon the pillar of darkness.

"Just focus," Kouji mimicked.

Takuya gazed skeptically at the twins, his disbelief showing on his face. However, the look soon changed to surprise as the pillars began to glow: white for light and purple for dark.

"Focus …"

"Focus …"

"Focus …"

The twins' mantra now echoed throughout the room as the light from the pillars increased.

"Focus …"

The twins began to glow with their elements.

"What is going on?" Takuya shouted.

"LIGHT!"

At the sound of Kouji's voice, the white light began to waver. The light surged into Kouji and concentrated in a single object: the charm that held his brother's name.

"DARK!"

The purple light followed the example set by the white light and Kouichi's charm began to glow as well. Simultaneously, the twins reached up and grabbed the pendant floating near their chins. When their hands closed around the object, a burst of light exploded around their fists and their bodies transformed into the form they took during spirit evolutions. Fractal code encircled their bodies and they floated into the sky. Slowly, the fractal code materialized into clothing.

Kouji fell back to the ground wearing black boots and pants, a blue t-shirt, and a white biker jacket, nothing unnatural for a human child, but his hair had been cut short, spiked, and a white streak of hair fell across his forehead. His hair was just barely covering small fairy-like ears, which, like the rest of his skin, were a pure white color. Slowly, Kouji extended his hands out and on the back of the palms, the symbol of light was written in a pale blue. He brought his hands together, as if holding a pole, and a beam of light extended to the floor and to just above his head. The light solidified into a staff made of a white metal.

Kouichi looked very similar, physically: pure white skin and fairy-like ears. His clothing was normal enough: white boots and pants, a light green t-shirt under a black trench coat, and a black hat similar to Tommy's old hat. From under the hat, Kouichi's hair appeared the same as before, but there were white streaks throughout the hair around his face. Kouichi's hands bore the mark of darkness in dark purple. He raised one up and a sphere of darkness appeared.

"Woah ……" Takuya breathed, awestruck. The other occupants of the room could only nod mutely.

"Well that was easier than I expected," Lowemon said as he examined the new forms of his partner and his brother. "How do you two feel?"

" … I … don't know …" Kouichi answered slowly, dissolving the circle of darkness in his hand. "Different … "

" … and yet the same …" Kouji finished for his brother.

"Are … you digimon?" Tommy inquired stepping cautiously towards the twins.

"I don't think so," Kouichi responded quietly.

"As I said, you are hybrids of humans and digimon," Lowemon explained.

"Hybrids? What does that mean for us?" Kouji asked.

"I am not sure. I have not found any record of any previous true hybrid, though there have been records of human merging with digimon for a short amount of time as we have done," Lowemon elaborated.

"In other words, you have no idea," Lobomon shrugged. "All this time, for the past three weeks, you have been hiding here, researching this … this thing?"

"I had encountered this information before when going through Cherubimon's library, but I did not think much of it until the boys called. Their call proved they had some sort of connection with the digital world and I wanted to learn as much as I could before we found them."

"And what about the boys themselves? They were in trouble."

"Kouichi was fine. I could sense it and I knew you would take of your partner."

"Hey, remember us," Kouji muttered angrily, "What happened to us?"

"You have evolved. Simple as that," Lowemon answered.

"It will be interesting to see what you can do with your new found power," Agunimon said from across the room. The others finally seemed to be breaking away from their mindless stupor.

"How did you do that?" J.P. asked, sounding jealous.

"I want to evolve too," Tommy exclaimed, excitedly.

"Me too," Zoey chimed.

"Yeah, buddies, share your secrets," Takuya shouted.

"I really don't know," Kouji muttered, examining the staff still in his hands.

"We just focused on our elements, on how it felt to become digimon for the first time, on our relationship with our spirits and each other. It just … happened," Kouichi added, once again summoning a ball of shadow.

"Alright, I can do this!" Takuya yelled, running back to his pillar.

"Focus …. Focus … Focus … Focus …. Focusfocusfocusfocusfocusfocusfocus"

"… I don't think just saying it will do anything you idiot," Kouji scowled as Takuya started banging his head against the pillar for fire.

Takuya breathed deeply and straightened his posture. "… Fo-cus …" he muttered slowly. Finally, his pillar began to glow a bright, deep red, which soon enveloped the child of fire.

Next time: see the new forms of the other warriors and what that will mean for the baddies.


	17. Metamorphasis part 2

Finally, his pillar began to glow a bright, deep red, which soon enveloped the child of fire. Takuya, glowing red, floated into the air and was surrounded by fractal code. The fractal code dissipated leaving a much tanner Takuya topped with bright blond hair sticking haphazardly out from under a red cap turned backwards like his old hat and surrounded with the infamous goggles of the warrior of fire. A flame tattoo went from yellow to orange to red up in a line across each of his eyes, which were a bright gold color. The sleeves of a deep red sweater appeared under a dark brown t-shirt, which had a single flame emblem on the center. He was also wearing baggy khaki cargo pants and red sneakers. The symbol of fire burned a red line onto the back of his right hand and when he extended that hand, an orange glow surged from his hand in the form of a sword.

"Sweet!" Takuya shouted, swinging the sword around.

"Stop that before you hurt someone, idiot," Kouji snapped from where he was standing next to his brother.

"Jealous, buddy?" Takuya questioned, swinging his sword and making silly faces, which he though would be impressive. "All you got is that dinky staff, while I get this cool sword."

"A weapon is useless if the person using it is a moron," Kouji retorted.

"Interesting," Lowemon mumbled walking around the newly transformed hybrid of fire. "This seems to be working very nicely. Next!" Lowemon exclaimed turning to the three remaining full humans.

"I'll go!" J.P. sputtered, not sounding very sure of himself. "Yeah. Yeah. I should go next. Right? I am the oldest. Yeah?"

"Just go already," Zoe said, voice slightly wavering with uneasiness.

"Alright," J.P. said, taking a deep breath and puffing up his chest. "Here goes nothing," he shouted, touching his pillar of lightning. "So I just focus. Right? Easy enough. Focus. Focusing. Focusing. Not working. I must be doing something wrong. FOCUS! Argg…. It's not working."

"I don't think that counts as focusing, Einstein," Zoe mumbled, as the others nodded, mutely.

"You have to really focus on your element and everything being a digimon has done for you," Kouichi advised.

"Why don't we all try together?" Tommy suggested, his voice high and shy.

"Maybe," Zoe agreed, though still apprehensive about the idea of changing.

"Let's all just focus," J.P. said, moving back to his pillar. Tommy and Zoe followed his example and all three of them began to focus on their elements in complete silence. Within a short time, their individual pillars began to glow: Zoe's pink, J.P.'s yellow, and Tommy's pale blue. The three figures floated into the air surrounded by fractal code, just as the others had done before them.

As the fractal code disappeared, J.P. was the first to fall, and rapidly at that. His hair remained the same length and color, except for his bangs, which were now a bright blond and fell in strips down to his chin. Long, pointed ears framed his face, which had a lightning bolt running from the left side of his forehead to the bottom right side of his cheek. He was wearing a yellow, long-sleeved button up shirt over a blue t-shirt. Blue capris with yellow pockets fell about five inches above blue sneakers. As he lifted his hand, newly adorned with a yellow tattoo of the symbol of lightning, a lightning bolt materialized in his hand and sent sparks of electricity into the air.

Tommy fell leisurely to the ground. His hair contained the same brown color as before, but it had been roughly spiked and streaks of light blue ran throughout his hair. Amongst his hair, two white teddy bear ears stuck up. Like the twins, his skin was very pale, but even more so, to the point of turning slightly blue in places. A pale yellow scarf was wrapped around his neck above an oversized white sweater with blue stripes at the bottom. His outfit was completed with baggy jeans and brown boots. Tommy held his hands, marked with the symbol of ice, out as if holding a bow and arrow, which then materialized in his hand. The bow was a clear metal with a snowflake charm dangling of the end, and the arrow was a block of ice shaped like an arrow.

The last to appear, Zoe, did not fall because she was being held up by two small, purple butterfly wings on her shoulder blades over a pink sweat jacket that was open in front, revealing a purple belly shirt, which showed off a lot of her rosy pink skin. Her blond locks were the same color, but were now curled and fell just bellow her wings. A long white skirt floated around her legs and hid some of her brown dress boots. The symbol of wind was carved into both of her hands in pink and when she held up her hands, mini tornadoes appeared in each one.

"This is so cool!" J.P shouted, throwing his hands into the air, which unfortunately made the lightning bolt drop from his hand and bounce across the room towards Takuya. With a yelp, Takuya ducked behind Agunimon, who was hit square in the face with the lightning bolt, causing his hair to spike out and smoke slightly.

"Watch it," Kouji grumbled.

"We should see what you can do with your new bodies now," Lowemon said, lightly pushing the children out of the large room.


	18. Troubled Training

Lici's Rant: I spent a lot of time on this chapter, it was kind of hard to think of attacks, so on that note, I would really like to know what everyone thinks of it. I would like to make this chapter really good, because it will be the basis for how the 'human-digimon hybrids' fight from now until the end of the story. Thus, any little problems you have with this chapter, I would really like to fix ASAP. Despite what this rant implies, I am not hunting for reviews. I will continue with the story as is if I don't get any complaints/suggestions. Done. Enjoy.

"We should see what you can do with your new bodies now," Lowemon said, lightly pushing the children out of the large room.

Lowemon led the children through the inner maze of Cherubimon's castle once again until they reached another large room. The room was completely bare except a few chairs along one wall.

"We should be able to practice here," Lowemon said, gesturing around the room to emphasize the amount of space available. "This room was originally for training Cherubimon's warriors anyway."

"So where should we start?" Takuya shouted, enthusiastically swinging his sword around much to the dismay of the warriors around him.

"I say we start by taking that sword away from Takuya," Kouji grumbled. Takuya started huffing, but was stunned when all the others raised their hands, including the reluctant Agunimon.

"HEY!" Takuya whined.

"Perhaps we should just go one at a time into the center of the room and try attacking," Kouichi advised, as always the calm one of the group.

"Fine," Takuya sighed. "BUT I GET TO GO FIRST!"

Reluctantly, the others agreed, more out of a desire to ensure Takuya would learn how to wield his sword before he injured any of them, though their agreement did not stop them from hiding behind the chairs close to the wall.

"Okay, now all I need is a sparring partner," Takuya's words caused everyone to pale considerably.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors?" Agunimon pleaded, as he noticed the eyes of all the warriors upon him.

"Not a chance, hothead," Lobomon replied. "He's your partner; you spar with him."

"Come on, buddy, have a heart," Agunimon begged, desperately.

"HEY!" Takuya shouted from the center of the room. "Come on already."

With Agunimon distracted by Takuya's shout, the other legendary warriors were able to push him out towards Takuya.

"Alright, time to slice and dice," Takuya exclaimed, causing Agunimon to laugh nervously. "So what should I do first?" By now, Takuya was jumping up and down, while swinging his sword around wildly.

"Point the sword towards the ground!" Agunimon commanded, suddenly reverting to a battle experienced legendary warrior.

Takuya sobered quickly and did as instructed.

"We need to figure out what that sword can do before you start swinging it around haphazardly," Agunimon explained. "We do not want fire to start shooting out randomly. We figure out what attributes go along with the sword, then we can work on actual attacking."

"How do I do that?" Takuya inquired, rather hesitantly because of Agunimon's new seriousness.

"Our element is fire, so the sword probably has some connection to fire," Agunimon reasoned slowly. "Try focusing on the fire within your soul and then push your feeling into the sword."

"Okay…"

"You have no idea what I mean, do you?" Agunimon mumbled, causing Takuya to shake his head "no" with a huge, eerie grin. "How's this: think about a flaming sword? A flaming sword. Flam … ing … sw.. ord," Agunimon explained, as if to an infant.

Takuya started pouting, but quickly stopped at Agunimon's responding glare. "Flaming sword," Takuya said, with his eyes closed and his sword pointing outward. "Flaming sword … Flaming sword …. Flaming sword … Flaming sword … Flaming sword … Flaming sword … Flamingsword … Flamingsword …. Flamingswordflamingswordflamingswordflamingswordflamingswordflamesword …"

Poof.

The sword was suddenly engulfed in light blue flames. "COOL!" Takuya said, starting to swing the sword around, unfortunately grazing Agunimon's hair and singeing it. "Oops… hehe …" Takuya chuckled nervously, the flame of his sword going out.

"It's fine!" Agunimon spat through clenched teeth. "Just try again," he continued, backing away quickly.

"But … "

"Just try!"

"Alright … "Flaming sword … Flaming sword …. Flaming sword … Flaming sword … Flaming sword … Flaming sword … Flamingsword … Flamingsword …. Flamingswordflamingswordflamingswordflamingswordflamingswordflamingsword …"

After several minutes of repeating the mantra Agunimon had given him with no result, Takuya groaned. "Agunimon, it won't start again," Takuya complained.

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"Make it work."

"It's not my fault you can't light a sword."

"Maybe it is!"

"How?"

"It touched your hair!"

"So what?!"

"ENOUGH!" Kouji shouted from across the room. "As much as I love listening to two morons argue, there are other people, more intelligent, who need to practice."

"What was that, lightbulb?" Takuya retorted.

"Lightbulb? What kind of insult is that, idiot?"

"Are you insulting the way I insult people?"

"I didn't think it was possible for your brain to be any more idiotic, but there it is."

"Why you?"

"Flame sword." A new voice said.

"Is that all you can say, gogglehead?"

"Now you are insulting my goggles?"

"He said Flame sword," the new voice reiterated.

"What?" Kouji inquired, looking around for the new voice. It was Kouichi.

"FlaME sword, not Flaming sword," Kouichi started. At the still confused looks from the others he continued, "Takuya started out saying 'Flaming sword,' but he said 'FlaME sword' right before the fire came."

"Interesting," Lowemon mumbled from beside Kouichi. "Perhaps because they are part digimon, the children need to declare their attack before anything happens just like a digimon."

"What does that mean?" Takuya questioned.

"Just try saying 'Flame sword' the next time you hold out your sword," Agunimon explained, trying to simplify it for the already frustrated fire hybrid.

"Kouji, perhaps it would be best if we just left them alone to train," Lobomon reasoned. "Lowemon? Do you have any other room we can train in?"

"Yeah …" Lowemon responded, slowly, "but, perhaps we should wait to see if the attacks do need a vocal aspect to help the others train."

"Fine," Lobomon complied. "Hurry up, hothead."

"Stop calling me that," Agunimon whined, but his voice quickly reverted back to serious as he turned to face Takuya. "Go ahead and try again. This time say 'Flame sword' before doing anything."

"Here goes nothing," Takuya sighed. He held out the sword, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "Flame sword."

Poof.

The light blue flame returned to the sword quickly and easily.

"Now that we have that little bit of information," Lobomon announced, "maybe we can start with the rest of them, who need to train just as much as him."

"Follow me," Lowemon said, coming out from behind the chairs and heading for the door. The remaining warriors left the fire spirits to train in the large room. Lowemon led the children to another room, slightly smaller, but still very spacious. "Kumamon, you can train with Tommy. Lobomon, you take the twins and I will train Zoe and J.P. Agreed?"

"Sounds good," Kumamon said, taking Tommy into the room.

Lowemon led Lobomon and the twins to another, similar room to train and finally stopped in another room with Zoe and J.P.

"Well, what do we do?" Kouji asked.

"I guess first we have to figure out your attack names," Lobomon answered.

Kouji held out his staff and thought for a moment. "Light staff." Nothing. "Light pole." Nothing. "Light stick." Nothing. "Light rod." Nothing.

"It doesn't always work the same way for different people," Lobomon explained. "Try saying what comes to mind when you think of your element."

Kouji took a deep breath. "Light." Nothing. "Hikari." Nothing. "Lumière." Nothing. "Luz." Nothing.

"Kou … ji?" Lobomon questioned in confusion.

"Kouji goes to a fancy private school in Japan," Kouichi explained. "He learns several languages: traditional Japanese, French, and Spanish."

"Aaaah …"

"I am trying to concentrate," Kouji growled. "And you go to that 'fancy private school' too now," he mumbled, with a hidden smile.

"Try 'Radiant Scythe' while holding it up," Kouichi added, ominously.

"Kouichi that doesn't really fit at all," Kouji returned, with a confused look on his face.

"Please just try?" Kouichi said, quietly.

"Fine," Kouji agreed, unable to argue with his twin, who, for no apparent reason, was right most of the time. Taking a deep breath and holding the staff up high, Kouji whispered, "Radiant Scythe."

The "staff" began to glow and a beam of light curved out of the top, making the weapon into a scythe.

"How did you … " Kouji trailed off, lowering the scythe to examine the blade.

"Just something I remember from a dream …" Kouichi whispered, not facing Kouji or Lobomon, but staring off into the corner.

"A dream?"

"After I fell off the ship and blacked out, I was in a dark place and I remember seeing this scene, but I didn't know what it meant until now," Kouichi whispered, more to himself than Kouji. Suddenly, he smiled brightly. "It doesn't matter now. Show us what you can do."

"Kouichi … "

"Trust me Kouji, trying to figure out the spirit of darkness will only give you a migraine," Lobomon interjected. "So, let's teach you how to use that thing."

"What about Kouichi? Shouldn't we figure out how his ability works before we …."

"Shadow Nova," Kouichi said, indifferently, and a dark sphere appeared in his hands, with a swirling dark purple mist around it, sending off large bursts of energy.

"I think he can take care of himself, and I would like to avoid the inevitable confusion of trying to understand darkness," Lobomon said, turning his back on Kouichi and walking to the other side of the room. "Come here and we will work on some combat techniques."

The warriors trained for several more hours, until, at dusk, Lowemon gathered all the warriors back into the main training room where they had left Takuya and Agunimon.

"How did it go, guys?" Agunimon asked as they entered the room.

"Radiant Scythe."

"Shadow Nova."

"Frost Dart," Tommy said and the ice arrow became narrow and sharp, while snow whirled around Tommy's entire body.

"Crimson Squall," Zoe said and a tornado wound around her arms and turned a deep red.

"Flash Charge," J.P. said and a lightning bolt wound around his hand to form a kind of glove of electricity.

"We seem to be doing well," J.P. said smugly.

"Now what?" Kouji asked seriously.

Everyone lowered his or her heads in response to the solemn question.

"Let's not get depressed," Lowemon said cheerfully. "How about we go get some dinner and we can talk then?"

Once in the kitchen, Lowemon pulled out several sandwiches and other snacks.

"Let's eat," Lowemon chimed, passing out sandwiches to everyone.

"So what do we do now?" Takuya said, between bites.

"We have to go to the village of beginnings," Agunimon said quietly. "We have friends waiting for us there."

The others nodded somberly.

"From there we go to Ophanimon's castle," Lowemon added. "We have to get to the red moon and stop this new enemy. We can figure out a plan for that battle later. I agree with Agunimon, our first priority is to regain our allies and friends. We will need all the help we can get to defeat this new enemy."

"Speaking of our enemy," Kouji interjected suddenly, "how are we supposed to get out of this castle? The enemy seems to have this place surrounded and I doubt they would have left after just one day of waiting."

"So we bust our way out!" Takuya shouted.

"We don't even know how many digimon are out there. We never did see their faces," Zoe retorted quietly.

"I agree with Z," J.P. said. "We just now learned we have digital powers and now you want to test them out on the biggest bad guys the digital world may have ever faced."

"What happens to us if we … if we …. Die," Tommy whispered.

The others quickly turned towards Tommy, who seemed to shrink under their gazes.

"I mean … It's just … we're not … exactly digimon … completely … will … will we … be … reborn if we … die," Tommy stuttered as he fought to maintain his courage.

"I'm not sure," Lowemon answered, for the first time his voice seemed a little uncertain.

"We are just going to make sure we don't ever have to test that," Agunimon said firmly.

"Exactly," Lobomon added, "thus, I think it would be better if we could find a way out of here without having to face the enemy."

"We may be able to find a way through the old dungeons underground," Lowemon said slowly, "but, for now we should spend some more time training."

"Do we have that luxury?" Agunimon asked, seriously.

"We really should rest at least for the night," Lowemon said. "We can explore the dungeons tomorrow."


	19. EscapeAlmost

The legendary warriors spent the night sleeping soundly after the trouble of mastering their elements. In the morning, Lowemon gathered everyone into the kitchen, where they ate breakfast.

"So, we are going to look for another way out after breakfast?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah," Agunimon answered.

"Like I said, last night, I believe there may be some secret passages in Cherubimon's old dungeons," Lowemon added.

"Wouldn't it be kind of bad to have secret passages in a prison?" Zoe asked, confused.

"Not in the cells, but in the hallways. They were used to transport criminals underground to Baromon for judgment, without having to worry about them escaping above ground," Lowemon explained.

"So the passage leads to Baromon's cave," Kouji confirmed.

"Yes, with access to all the records of the digital world, Baromon made the perfect choice for a judge, so many criminals were sent to him for judgment," Lowemon added. "It would be beneficial for us to visit Baromon anyway. Perhaps he could tell us something important about our enemy."

"Well, then let's go!" Takuya said, as energetic as ever.

"I guess it is time to go," Lobomon said, as he noticed everyone had finished eating.

"Follow me then," Lowomon said, walking towards the hallway once more.

The group walked through many stairways and rooms before finally reaching the eerie gate to Cherubimon's dungeon.

"I don't remember this," J.P. said nervously approaching the gate.

"Of course you wouldn't," Zoe admonished. "The last time we were down here it was just rubble."

"Cherubimon does have a way with creepy architecture," J.P. mumbled.

"You do not have to worry," Lowemon tried to soothe the warriors. "No prisoners have been housed in this dungeon since the castle was rebuilt. After what happened with Icedevimon, the three angels decided to find a new way to deal with criminals. They found a way to restrict their digivolving to only rookie level, so there would be no way to for the prisoners to fight back. In other words, there is nothing in there except 'Cherubimon's creepy architecture' to worry about." With that said, he pushed open the large door and walked inside, with the others following, reluctantly, behind him.

As Lowemon promised, the room was very bare. There were still large cells scattered along the wall, but they were all empty. Lowemon led them down the narrow middle hallway between the bars.

"There should be a door around here somewhere," Lowemon said, as the group reached a clearing at the end of the room. "Check along the walls for any kind of door handle or maybe the symbol of darkness. The doorway had to be at least somewhat hidden, so the prisoners would not know how to get out."

The group spread out and began feeling along the walls for anything like what Lowemon had described.

"What happens if we can not find the door?" Takuya asked. "Then can we go fight?" he exclaimed, energetically.

"We haven't even been looking for five minutes, Takuya," Kouji snapped. "Just keep looking."

"Hey, I think I found something," Tommy squeeked from across the room, squatting down and dusting the wall near the bottom. The others rushed over to him and stood over his shoulder, staring at the wall where Tommy was swiping at some dust. Finally, the dust cleared to reveal a small handle, with the symbol of darkness carved into it.

"This looks right," Lowemon said, reaching over Tommy and pulling the bar out. When the handle popped out of the wall, Lowemon fell back onto the people behind him.

"Owww…." Takuya groaned. "What happened?"

"It just came out," Lowemon said, getting up off the ground.

"Is it supposed to do that?" J.P. mumbled.

"I think so," Tommy whispered, pointing to the wall, which was rapidly dissolving into fractal code. As the warriors watched, amazed, the wall disappeared to reveal a spacious cave, with golden torches along the wall, lighting one by one.

"Let's go," Kouji said, helping Kouichi up off the ground. The twins began walking down the corridor without waiting for the others, but soon, the other warriors began following.

"How long is this corridor?" Takuya asked, after several minutes of walking.  
"I can sense an 'are we there yet' coming," Zoe grumbled, causing the others to

chuckle quietly, while Takuya huffed.

"I'M BEING SERIOUS!" he complained, which only made the others laugh harder.

"It is probably a dozen or so miles," Lowemon said, as if it were nothing.

"A DOZEN MILES!!" this time the voices of all the children shouted. Lowemon and the other digimon winced at the loud sound.

The walls began to shake.

"Quiet!" Lobomon whispered harshly.

"I don't think that was us," Kouichi said, holding a finger to his lips to silence the others. Though slightly confused by his statement, everyone became as silent as they could, listening for something, not exactly knowing what that something was.

A faint mechanical sound reached their ears after a minute or two of silence.

"What is that?" J.P. asked, stunned.

"Do you think it could be the enemy?" Tommy whispered in a high, fearful voice.

"Perhaps," Lobomon said, listening more carefully to the subtle sound.

"Maybe we should not sit here and wait to find out," Agunimon exclaimed.

"Yeah," Kumamon agreed, nodding.

Slide Evolution: BurningGreymon.

Slide Evolution: MetalGarurumon.

Slide Evolution: JagerLowemon.

BurningGreymon scooped up Tommy, Kumamon and Takuya, while J.P. and Zoe climbed onto MetalGarurumon's back and Kouji and Kouichi got up onto JagerLowemon. The three large digimon sped off down the corridor in an attempt to get out of the range of the sound, but it only continued to increase. They raced faster and faster, faster, faster, and faster, but instead of diminishing, the sound became deafening. Someone was definitely using a machine somewhere close.

Drills. The sound was ominously familiar to the sound drills make.

"ARE THEY LOOKING FOR US!" Takuya screamed over the piercing sound.

"I HOPE NOT, BUT WE HAVE NOT ALWAYS BEEN THE LUCKIEST PEOPLE IN THE DIGITAL WORLD!" BurningGreymon had to shriek, and even then, the only people who heard him were the ones he was holding.

The walls were shaking violently now and bits of the rock were falling all around them.

Suddenly, the sound of Hoppermon added to the noise echoing throughout the cave. Panic began to seep through the group as BurningGreymon and MetalGarurumon attempted to find any more energy to move faster.

A large crack began spreading through the rock ceiling. The crack widened in front of them and several digimon began pouring through the ceiling: red digimon, the enemy.


	20. Abrupt Ending

**Lici's Rant:** Sorry everyone. Anyway, I'm back and finally on spring break! So …. I hope to actually finish this story this week! I think there will be about ten or fifteen more chapters, so it may be too much for me, but I will really try. I will still only do at most one chapter a day though, so hopefully it will stretch for another two weeks or so. Also, I think I might raise the rating to "T" because there is a lot of digimon … dying. I tried to not make it very violent, but I am not sure. Anyway, just warning anyone who cares about the rating that it may go up, but only because of violence: nothing else.

Red digimon, the enemy.

All sound stopped as the digimon permeated the cave, leaving a foreboding, dead silence to ring throughout their ears at the sudden loss.

"Now we fight?" Takuya asked, without any hint of his previous overly confident, joking tone. He was serious, when he wanted to be.

"No choice," BurningGreymon said in a hushed voice as he set the children down. Reluctantly, the other children climbed off JagerLowemon and MetalGarurumon to prepare for the inevitable fight.

The enemy drew near. They formed a line. They waited only a few feet away. They were determined to intimidate. And they did.

The warriors were frozen. _Do we attack now before they have their full force in the caves? _The enemy digimon were still pouring in through the crack in the ceiling. Their numbers seemed infinite. _Do we wait for them to make the first move to try and see their plan? _The legendary warriors stood stiffly in a line and summoned their weapons. Were they ready?

Barely breathing, the warriors watched the enemy flood from the surface, both hoping for it to end, limiting the number of enemy, and wishing for it to continue, so they would not have to start the fight yet.

Eventually, inevitably, the surging horde of red digimon stopped. The line of the digimon army was set. It stretched for hundreds of feet down the cave, but the front line of the enemy never moved, creating an unflinching wall of force.

A lone arm shot up from within the sea of digimon.

The digimon surged forward.

"Stay together," Agunimon shouted, immediately assuming his role as leader of the legendary warriors.

The warriors summoned their weapons and prepared for their attacks. The first explosion of the battle hit the ground just in front of them. _Pyro Barrage._ The warriors began their counterattack. Explosions swirled all around the small group, who were desperately trying to avoid injury, not able to fight back with any real force. _Frost Dart._

The battle passed through their minds as a series of actions, their fear preventing any logical thought to rule. _Crimson Squall. _They dodged. They ducked. They jumped. The enemy was disappearing rapidly, but their numbers never seemed to lessen. What was this power that gave them infinite numbers? _Lupine Laser._

The enemy knew how to fight intelligently. They were using their environment and coordinating their attacks. They blasted the ceiling of the cave, raining rocks down upon the legendary warriors. The small group was completely overwhelmed by the military genius displayed by the enemy. _Flash Charge._ Each of the warriors had battle experience, but not against an army. No doubt, they could take on any one digimon or even a small group of digimon without any problem, but their confidence in this kind of battle was little, and dwindling. _Flame Sword._

Kouichi had yet to attack; however, he showed no signs of fear. He merely did not attack. Why? _Frozen Tundra._ The others briefly registered this fact, but it was a small worry at the back of their minds. Kouichi watched with unseeing eyes as the two sides fought. Kouji glanced at his brother, curiously, but was quickly forced to turn back to dodge a sword aimed at his heart. _Radiant Scythe._ JagerLowemon seemed under the same mysterious trance as his partner.

How long had they been fighting?

No one knew.

Five hours. One hour. Half an Hour.

Ten Minutes?

The battle continued with no fatigue showing on the side of the enemy, but increased steadily in the warriors. _Slide Evolution: Korikakumon. _The new beast digimon forced the enemy away from the warriors for now the small group was large enough to form a wall from one side of the cave to the other. The enemy no longer surrounded them on all sides. _Avalanche Axes. _Korikakumon, J.P., Zoe, and Tommy focused their attacks on the few digimon remaining behind them in the cave, so the group would only have to fight the enemy from one side. _Crimson Squall. _Luckily, the enemies destroyed behind them did not seem to be replaced. Within minutes, the small band of enemies that remained behind the warriors was destroyed, giving the group a tiny surge of hope.

A small growl of frustration seeped through the horde of enemies.

Most of the warriors did not notice, but Kouichi and JagerLowemon heard. Their emotionless faces that had persisted since the beginning of the battle lit up with some unknown recognition. _Howling Star. _The battle raged around them, not noticing the slight change. Kouichi climbed onto JagerLowemon's back. _Dark Master. _JagerLowemon cut a path through the enemy digimon and stopped in front of a startled looking digimon with a long, flowing red cape. _Shadow Nova. _

The digimon screamed.

None of the enemies seemed to even flinch at being destroyed, but this digimon was different, very different.

Fractal Code appeared.

No other enemy digimon showed fractal code; they just disappeared.

A digi-egg materialized and floated off through the crack in the ceiling.

All of the digimon vanished.

Every single last enemy digimon melted into a formless shadow and merely evaporated.

"What … just … happened?" Takuya asked, as stunned as the rest of the warriors, only able to speak his thoughts because of his overly expressive personality.

"I will explain everything shortly, legendary warriors," a voice echoed from the far end of the cave. "It did take you longer than I anticipated to destroy those digimon. Come with me," the voice commanded, stepping into the light close enough for the warriors to see who it belonged to.

"BAROMON!"


	21. What?

"BAROMON!"

All the warriors gaped at the new arrival. Exhausted, the small group of warriors fell onto the ground to rest, the digimon warriors returning to their spirit forms.

"I was wondering when you would show up," Lowemon said as he and Kouichi walked over to the others with Baromon.

"I'm not sure I want to ask this, but what is going on?" Agunimon questioned from his place on the ground.

"I am sure you have many questions, and I have many answers. Now, come with me. The enemy will recover soon," Baromon explained, turning around and walking off down the corridor.

"Hey!" J.P. groaned. "Haven't you ever heard of resting?"

"No time. No time," Baromon's voice floated down the corridor from where the warriors could no longer see Baromon's body.

"I really didn't miss this part of our digital world adventure: never ending moving," J.P. muttered.

"Need help?" Kouichi asked quietly, extending his hand to Kouji, who was trying to catch his breath on the ground.

"Thanks," Kouji responded softly, grabbing Kouichi's hand and standing up.

The twins proceeded down the cave, followed closely by their partner digimon.

"I guess, it's time to get moving," Agunimon cheered, a slight waver in his normally confident voice.

"Come on, little buddy," Takuya said, helping Tommy to his feet.

"Need some help, Z," J.P. said, trying to sound smooth, as he jumped up and offered a hand to Zoe.

"I'm fine, thank you," Zoe replied, using her wings to fly to her feet. She floated down the cave, without looking back at J.P. causing said boy to whimper.

Within minutes, all the warriors were trudging down the cave, following Baromon, who seemed unaffected by the massive battle that had taken place only a few miles from his house. The walk to Baromon's dwelling was consumed by silence.

Finally, the small, but growing group, arrived in front of a stone door covered in carvings. Baromon inched up to the door and touched a carving near the middle, then a carving towards the top left, then another near the bottom, then another and another. The warriors lost track of the location of all the symbols Baromon was touching, but eventually, he stepped back and the door began to shake.

The rumbling worried the group, but because of Baromon's unfazed expression, they did nothing. The door collapsed to the ground, falling away from the warriors with an echoing crash.

"Is … that normal?" Takuya asked, eyes wide.

"Quite," Baromon responded, flippantly, as he walked over the stone door now acting as an entryway. "Come along."

Takuya glared in annoyance at the complete disregard Baromon was showing him, but followed anyway, showing the maturity he had gained during his last excursion in the digital world. The others followed behind, trusting more in Takuya than Baromon. At the edge of the stone door, Baromon stopped abruptly.

"What is wrong now?" Takuya groaned, bumping into the back of Baromon.

"I have much to show you," Baromon said, annoying all the warriors with his vague statements. Baromon placed two fingers upon the red gem on his forehead, which began to glow causing the door to shake and to float upwards. "We will start with your questions."

Silence.

"Huh … was that a question?" J.P. asked, hesitantly.

Baromon did not respond.

"What … what happened that made the digimon disappear?" Kouji asked, gaining courage from his loss of patience with the cryptic Baromon.

"Yes, yes, important question," Baromon muttered, directing the stone platform towards one of the floating cylinders that filled the grotto. Upon passing through the stone cylinder, the group was surrounded by the image of an unknown digimon surrounded by trees.

The digimon appeared mostly human with pale white skin, but with eight large black bat wings protruding from his back. Deep black hair spiked randomly atop his head and fell across demonic red eyes. A glossy black fabric wrapped around his body in a similar fashion to … Lucemon, who stepped into the scene just as the thought crossed their minds.

"_Alphamon," the Lucemon from the scene called. _

_"Lucemon," 'Alphamon' called back in annoyance. "What are you doing here? Don't you have some poor sap you have to order around to feel powerful?" _

_"Quiet, you fool," Lucemon commanded, frowning. _

_"Don't try and manipulate me, little brother," Alphamon growled. "Go play your little mind games elsewhere!"_

_"My little mind games will allow me to rule the world, what are your little toys going to do for you!" Lucemon yelled back, kicking a black statue sitting near Alphamon's feet. _

_"My clone digimon will become mindless soldiers, who will do anything I say. I can create an army of elite digimon with only a handful of followers, while you have to manipulate thousands to get an army large enough to do anything," Alphamon explained, turning away from Lucemon to scoop up the discarded statue. _

_"We will see who ends up ruling the digital world in the end, my dearest older brother," Lucemon retorted, sarcastically. "It will take you decades to perfect your little toys, while there are plenty of 'saps' willing to do my bidding now."_

_"Perhaps," Alphamon replied, mysteriously, "but how long will they follow you? How long before they turn on you? My 'toys' will never disobey me. I will have complete control. What will you have?" Alphamon finished talking and walked away without another word to the now growling, frustrated Lucemon._

_"Have your moment of glory, little brother? I will rule the world, some day." _


	22. Humanity

**Lici's rant:** This is a sad chapter. I like having fun with literature, but I still think it should say something. Also, TrialandError said I should add some more stuff to the other characters and this is just what came out. It wasn't just Trial's idea though, I have been wanting to do something with the other characters, Takuya especially. Sorry this chapter is really short, but I really thought it would leave the greatest impact if I stopped where I did. (I really have to work on making my stories sound more appealing, but if you are still interested after reading this, I hope you enjoy … or at least like … or tolerate.)

"So?" Takuya asked, looking around at all the others just as confused as him, "This Alphamon guy is Lucemon's brother?"

"Twin brother," Baromon confirmed.

"Twin …" Kouichi mumbled.

"… Brother?" Kouji finished.

"Warriors of light are often accompanied by warriors of darkness. Of course, that does not happen for all digimon, but the most powerful digimon in either of these elements typically has a counterpart. The balance between light and dark is what allowed Lucemon to become so powerful, despite his refusal to accept his brother," Baromon explained, using the same nonchalant tone he possessed when talking about anything.

"That means Alphamon is just as powerful as …" Tommy whispered.

"Lucemon," J.P. finished quietly.

"We already knew this enemy was powerful," Kouji snapped, trying to use his harsh attitude to break the other children out of the fear clouding their minds. "The battle in the cave just a few minutes ago proved that."

"And," Kouichi continued with determination, "we were able to beat Lucemon."

"I guess," Takuya mumbled.

"We do not have time to sulk, Idiot," Kouji retorted. "What is wrong with you?"

"We don't know anything about them."

"We know plenty about these digimon. They are soldiers left over from the war with Lucemon who were unable to fight and now decide they want to fight."

"Are these digimon really evil?"

"What … ?"

"Think about it. They are dark digimon that are mad at the three angels for the way they were ignored after the devastation of the war with Lucemon and because of that they were manipulated by Alphamon, just like Cherubimon and …"

"Kouichi," Kouji said in a whisper. "It's different, Takuya. These digimon know that the war is over. They are just fighting because … because … "

"Because Alphamon did something to them."

"How can you be sure?"

"The battle in the cave just a few minutes ago proved that," Takuya quoted Kouji's earlier statement. "Alphamon cloned the one digimon, so he must have convinced the digimon to trust him."

"TAKUYA! They destroyed the three angels, Bokomon, Naemon, Sorcerormon, Beetlemon, Kazemon, Grumblemon, Ranamon, Arbormon, and Mercurymon. Maybe they were manipulated, but you were the one that told me to fight my own brother to purify him. I don't see what the problem is."

"I guess, it is just weird being back in the digital world where killing someone does not mean the end. If this were the human world, what decision would we make? Humans die, for good, just like dad."


	23. Shadows from another World

Humans die, for good, just like dad

_Humans die, for good, just like dad._

_Just like dad._

The phrase hung in the air as those who knew of this fact were reminded and those who did not know were stunned. Takuya had not seemed any different to the legendary warriors: still clumsy, still loud, still hotheaded, still brave, still valiant. Even the stony-faced Baromon seemed shaken.

"Takuya, I'm sor…" Agunimon started to say.

"It's okay," Takuya interjected quickly. "I did not mean to make everybody sad or get anyone's pity. My dad … my dad was a good guy. Really good. He was working later than usually to save up for a trip my family was planning to take soon, but he was pushing himself too hard and got into an accident on the way home because he was tired.

"I don't really want to talk about it, but I can't hide from it either. I know … I know that there was nothing I could do and that nothing would bring him back. For a while, I actually started yelling at my phone … " he stopped to chuckle: a deep slow chuckle. "…Just hoping that maybe I could get the phone to turn into a detector and save him like it saved Kouichi.

"But it didn't. It was then I realized just how different our lives were in the human world, but being the stubborn idiot that I am," he said with a big smile, which was quickly mimicked by everyone. "I couldn't let go of the digital world completely: all the things I had seen, the information I had learned, the maturity that I had gained … I needed that most of all. Even though I could never go back, I realized I could use all I had gained from the past to help me."

"The past is a powerful tool," Baromon added. "It is why this place exists: to remind us of the past and help us continually learn and grow from it."

"It … it has been a while since my dad died," Takuya continued, with a much more cheerful voice. "Eventually, I realized there was nothing I could do to bring him back, but that he would always be a part of my past, another memory to learn from and cherish. Now, I'm not a sappy guy, so let's just be careful not to kill the good guys when we are kicking bad guy butt!! That's all I'm saying, buddy."

"Just when you think there's a brain …" Zoe mumbled as she lowered her head.

Everyone had a good laugh and the tense atmosphere disappeared.

"What are your other questions?" Baromon asked, returning to his ominous manner.

"I really want to know who that creepy Sirenmon is and why she was calling herself a guardian of the digital world," Kouji asked. "And … and whether she really was the one who brought Kouichi here." He paused and looked over at Kouichi. "I am definitely grateful that she saved your life, if she really did, but I don't know why she did it. The enemy would not have wanted you to die either."

"That lady definitely had the creepy factor of a mega level," Agunimon said with a shudder.

After a deep sigh to stop himself from hitting Agunimon … again, Lobomon asked, "What about that sphere … thing in the hidden room?"

"What 'thing'?" Kumamon asked. "I don't remember that."

"Sirenmon infected us right when I was about to tell you guys," Lobomon supplied.

"Apparently, it can somehow see things from across the digital world," Kouji began to explain. "When I looked in to it, I saw Kouichi wandering around the Dark Continent, which is how we knew where to look."

"Very well," Baromon responded. He once again directed the stone platform they were floating on towards the stone cylinders that housed the histories of the digital world.

Nothing.

The cylinder floated through the top of the cylinder without showing anything.

"What happened?" JP asked.

Baromon did not speak. He directed the stone to another cylinder, hoping for a different result, but once again the stone passed through unaffected.

"This is not possible," Baromon muttered.

"What … what does it mean?" Lowemon asked. "This cavern is supposed to possess the entire past of the digital world."

"I. Am. Not. Sure," Baromon enunciated slowly.

"What's the big deal?" Takuya asked. "Yeah, it's annoying that we can't see anything about this lady, but so what? Well just leave her alone and stop her if she tries anything funny!"

The other humans nodded, though reluctantly on the twins' part.

Though Baromon and Lowemon were apprehensive and confused, the others seemed indifferent to the situation. They did not understand the ramifications of this latest event. The humans were especially unfazed because they wrongly equated this place with a library or a history documentary. In the human world, it is not uncommon to find bits and pieces of information missing from such things.

Baromon turned slowly towards them and began to explain, "This place tracks data signatures throughout the entire digital world and stores them for future use. These cylinders are able to piece the data together as it happened in the past and display it. It is … impossible for data to exist in the digital world without being recorded here. It is because of the data saved in this place that digimon can be reborn.

"The digital world was created by humans from your world long ago: decades in your time, but millennia in ours. When this world was created, a limited amount of data was given to the program. Over the years, the digital world has evolved into the complex place of today, but it is all merely modifications of the data that existed from the beginning. Since this place was created by the humans who original created this world, it is aware of all data that exists."

"Meaning," Lowemon added grimly, "that this 'Sirenmon' is not a part of the digital world we know. Someone from your world must have … created her.

There are humans manipulating this war."


End file.
